National Pension Service Acquires 401,197 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

National Pension Service lifted its holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,608,187 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 401,197 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in NIKE were worth $197,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NKE. JNBA Financial Advisors lifted its stake in NIKE by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 10,045 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 4.7% in the third quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,036 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 20,446 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC grew its position in NIKE by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,605 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,556,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NKE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Thursday, December 26th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler upgraded NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $72.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen equities research 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 MarketBeat.com, NIKE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.77.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NKE opened at $81.91 on Wednesday. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.62 and a twelve month high of $106.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.01.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. NIKE’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

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.