New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,721,905 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 28,935 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.12% of NIKE worth $130,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after buying an additional 6,709,985 shares during 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 valued at $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 valued at $228,165,000 after buying an additional 2,357,745 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in NIKE during the third quarter worth about $148,635,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This represents 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.

NIKE Stock Up 6.2 %

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $77.54 on Wednesday. NIKE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.62 and a 1 year high of $106.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.07. The firm has a market cap of $114.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. NIKE’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on NKE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup cut shares of NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.