ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 304 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,700 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 304 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NKE. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507,856 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in NIKE by 358.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $228,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,357,745 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in NIKE by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,021 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in NIKE in the 3rd quarter valued at $148,635,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in NIKE in the 3rd quarter valued at $144,927,000. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Stock Performance

NYSE:NKE opened at $73.22 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.92. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.32 and a twelve month high of $107.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.30 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group cut NIKE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $93.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on NIKE from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America dropped their price target on NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on NIKE from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Company Profile

NIKE, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and sells athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services worldwide. The company provides athletic and casual footwear, apparel, and accessories under the Jumpman trademark; and casual sneakers, apparel, and accessories under the Converse, Chuck Taylor, All Star, One Star, Star Chevron, and Jack Purcell trademarks.