Covea Finance Trims Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Covea Finance trimmed its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 344,266 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 4,270 shares during the period. NIKE comprises 1.2% of Covea Finance’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Covea Finance’s holdings in NIKE were worth $26,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $575,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507,856 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 358.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $228,165,000 after buying an additional 2,357,745 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in NIKE during the 3rd quarter valued at $148,635,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in NIKE in the third quarter valued at about $144,927,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NKE shares. Telsey Advisory Group downgraded NIKE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson raised NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Fourteen investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.96.

NIKE Price Performance

NYSE:NKE opened at $71.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $105.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $76.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.06. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.53 and a 12 month high of $107.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 39.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.38%.

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.