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

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lowered its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 856,779 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 47,325 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.06% of NIKE worth $64,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in NIKE by 6,029.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in NIKE by 18.1% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in NIKE by 358.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $228,165,000 after buying an additional 2,357,745 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $156,438,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in NIKE by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,021 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NKE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group lowered their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. China Renaissance started coverage on NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:NKE opened at $66.64 on Wednesday. NIKE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.17 and a 52-week high of $98.04. The stock has a market cap of $98.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day moving average of $74.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.21. 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 (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. NIKE’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.