Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,053 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NKE. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in NIKE in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $642,000. Cacti Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter worth $9,987,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in NIKE by 5,745.9% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 8,652 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 8,504 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE in the third quarter valued at about $29,628,000. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 246,080 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $18,621,000 after purchasing an additional 14,592 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $71.04 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.06. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.53 and a twelve month high of $107.43. The company has a market capitalization of $105.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 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 (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 49.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NKE has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on NIKE from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group lowered shares of NIKE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.96.

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.