Nuance Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 90,759 NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Nuance Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 90,759 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $6,868,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in NIKE by 6,029.6% during 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake 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 worth $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in NIKE by 358.6% in 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 buying an additional 2,357,745 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in NIKE during the fourth quarter worth $156,438,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased 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 acquiring an additional 1,862,021 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NKE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cfra Research upgraded shares of NIKE to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.38.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $66.64 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $74.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.17 and a 1-year high of $98.04. The company has a market cap of $98.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

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.