Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Trims Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. cut its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,662 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 2,249 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after buying an additional 6,507,856 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of NIKE during the third quarter worth $148,635,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NIKE Stock Performance

NYSE:NKE opened at $70.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $75.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.09. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.62 and a 1-year high of $107.43.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The business’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. Analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NKE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.62.

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.