HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Trims Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC decreased its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,322 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 853 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 worth $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 251,411 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in NIKE by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at $1,126,288,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NIKE Stock Up 2.0 %

NKE stock opened at $64.78 on Wednesday. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $62.65 and a one year high of $98.04. The firm has a market cap of $95.81 billion, a PE ratio of 19.99, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 53.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NKE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup lowered NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Cfra Research raised NIKE to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.38.

NIKE 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.