NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Shares Sold by Strategy Asset Managers LLC

Strategy Asset Managers LLC reduced its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,493 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 512 shares during the quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. State Street Corp grew its stake in NIKE by 3.3% in 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. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in NIKE by 5.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,442,145 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,425,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,093 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NIKE by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,029,380 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,204,451,000 after purchasing an additional 251,411 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,541,246,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter worth about $1,126,288,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NIKE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.38.

NIKE Price Performance

NIKE stock opened at $63.32 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.93. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.14 and a 1 year high of $98.04. The company has a market capitalization of $93.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is 53.16%.

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.