Alta Advisers Ltd Grows Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Alta Advisers Ltd increased its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,961 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Alta Advisers Ltd’s holdings in NIKE were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of NIKE by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,749,903,000 after acquiring an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NIKE by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,915,110,000 after purchasing an additional 347,178 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in NIKE by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,545,937 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,857,389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288,627 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in NIKE by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,541,246,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,126,288,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, 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 at this link. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 8,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $58.46 per share, for a total transaction of $502,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,869,726.18. This represents a 36.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NIKE Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $56.24 on Tuesday. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.28 and a twelve month high of $98.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company’s 50 day moving average is $68.07 and its 200 day moving average is $73.55. The company has a market cap of $83.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15.

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

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on NKE. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on NIKE from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target 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. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on NIKE from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on NIKE from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.41.

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.