Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD Grows Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD grew its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 89.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,152 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,357 shares during the quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD’s holdings in NIKE were worth $4,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 37,058 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,804,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NIKE by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 40,160 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,039,000 after acquiring an additional 6,186 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NIKE by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,942 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in NIKE by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 23,813 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,802,000 after acquiring an additional 5,662 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 through the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. 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 analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.77.

NIKE Price Performance

NYSE NKE opened at $74.21 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. NIKE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.62 and a 52 week high of $102.49.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.38%.

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.