Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Cuts Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lessened its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 856,779 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 47,325 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in NIKE were worth $64,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NKE. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NIKE in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Caitlin John LLC raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 117.0% in the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in NIKE in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its holdings in NIKE by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the acquisition, 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NKE. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Performance

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

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.40%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.16%.

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.