Central Securities Corp Purchases Shares of 1,000,000 NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Central Securities Corp acquired a new position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,000,000 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $75,670,000. NIKE comprises 6.8% of Central Securities Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at $1,126,288,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of NIKE by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% during the fourth 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake 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 valued at $228,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,357,745 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research report on Friday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen 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 MarketBeat.com, NIKE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of NIKE 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Stock Performance

NYSE:NKE opened at $57.17 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $72.96 and its 200-day moving average is $76.27. The stock has a market cap of $84.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.50 and a 1-year high of $98.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. The company’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

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.