Altshuler Shaham Ltd Increases Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 42.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,654 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,095 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s holdings in NIKE were worth $3,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Caitlin John LLC grew its holdings in NIKE by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 110.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in NIKE during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 8,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $502,756.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. The trade was a 36.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson upgraded NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on NIKE from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of NIKE in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 target price for the company. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.15.

NIKE Stock Performance

NYSE:NKE opened at $53.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $79.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.28 and a 1-year high of $98.04. 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 50-day moving average of $69.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.31.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.16%.

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.