Arizona State Retirement System Decreases Stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 343,396 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 3,959 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in NIKE were worth $25,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $516,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507,856 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,541,246,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121,929 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 358.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,357,745 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on NKE. Citigroup lowered NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NIKE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.77.

NIKE Stock Performance

NKE stock opened at $77.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $115.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.01. NIKE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.62 and a 12-month high of $102.49. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.25.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The firm 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 prior year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. The trade was 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 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.