First Merchants Corp Reduces Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

First Merchants Corp lessened its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 7.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,547 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in NIKE were worth $252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eagle Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in NIKE in the 2nd quarter worth about $203,000. PARK CIRCLE Co boosted its stake in NIKE by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. PARK CIRCLE Co now owns 1,400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in NIKE by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 10,043 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Dohj LLC boosted its stake in NIKE by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 11,338 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $805,000 after buying an additional 1,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shariaportfolio Inc. boosted its stake in NIKE by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 24,766 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NKE opened at $68.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $100.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.19. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $52.28 and a one year high of $84.76. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.29.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $11.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.96 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 21.16% and a net margin of 6.23%.The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.05%.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.93, for a total transaction of $6,535,902.54. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 744,988 shares in the company, valued at $56,566,938.84. The trade was a 10.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Treasure Heinle sold 4,300 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.27, for a total value of $306,461.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 29,396 shares in the company, valued at $2,095,052.92. This represents a 12.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 200,378 shares of company stock worth $14,794,264 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on NIKE from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on NIKE from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Argus raised NIKE to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $85.00 price objective on NIKE and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.57.

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.