Advocate Group LLC Boosts Stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Advocate Group LLC raised its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,579 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the period. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $2,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 buying an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in NIKE by 5.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,442,145 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,425,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,093 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NIKE by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,029,380 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,204,451,000 after acquiring an additional 251,411 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in NIKE by 5.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,049,294 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $832,785,000 after acquiring an additional 571,544 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in NIKE by 6.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,303,182 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $910,801,000 after acquiring an additional 583,207 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $73.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.86. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.32 and a twelve month high of $107.43. The firm has a market cap of $108.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

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

NIKE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s payout ratio is 49.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.