Magnetar Financial LLC Buys New Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 7,435 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Caitlin John LLC grew its holdings in NIKE by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in NIKE during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in NIKE by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on NKE shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group dropped their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on NIKE in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.38.

NIKE Trading Down 5.4 %

NKE opened at $68.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $100.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.17 and a 12 month high of $98.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.46.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio 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.