Alliancebernstein L.P. Decreases Stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 31.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,138,922 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 2,856,326 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $464,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NKE. JNBA Financial Advisors increased its position in NIKE by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 10,045 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 4.7% during the third quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,036 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $269,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in NIKE by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 20,446 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of NIKE by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,014 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,500 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NKE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Dbs Bank raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America cut their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $63.32 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $93.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.76 and a 1 year high of $98.04. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.92.

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

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 53.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About NIKE

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.