Blair William & Co. IL Decreases Stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 29.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 242,664 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 99,993 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in NIKE were worth $18,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NKE. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Caitlin John LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in NIKE by 110.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in NIKE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on NIKE from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup downgraded NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Performance

NYSE NKE opened at $63.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.94. The company has a market cap of $93.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $63.14 and a 1-year high of $98.04.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

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.