Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,193,586 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 2,328,170 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 7.31% of NIKE worth $8,187,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NKE. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of NIKE by 4.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 66,417 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $5,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,843 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 19.3% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,028,131 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 166,127 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 3.2% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 111,285 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $9,838,000 after purchasing an additional 3,464 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 36.2% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,698 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,476,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE during the third quarter worth $261,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NIKE Trading Down 5.4 %

NIKE stock opened at $68.02 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $100.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.40. NIKE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.17 and a 52 week high of $98.04. 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 (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated 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 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. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Dbs Bank raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. China Renaissance assumed coverage on NIKE in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup downgraded NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Fifteen 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.