Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Lowers Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,880 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 650 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in NIKE by 6,029.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after acquiring 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. increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,438,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NKE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup lowered shares of NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on NIKE from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on NIKE from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lowered their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Fifteen 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Down 5.4 %

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $68.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.17 and a twelve month 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.46.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This represents 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 company insiders.

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.