Leelyn Smith LLC Purchases 1,886 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Leelyn Smith LLC increased its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,078 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the period. Leelyn Smith LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $3,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 6,507,856 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in NIKE by 18.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in 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 worth $228,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,357,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $156,438,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NIKE Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NKE stock opened at $73.78 on Tuesday. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.62 and a fifty-two week high of $101.92. 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.71. The company has a market cap of $109.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This trade represents 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on NKE shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America cut their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.54.

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.