Soros Fund Management LLC Purchases 40,000 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Soros Fund Management LLC increased its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 32.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 162,320 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after buying an additional 40,000 shares during the quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $12,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Caitlin John LLC lifted its stake in NIKE by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in NIKE by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on NKE shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on NIKE from $72.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Bank of America dropped their price objective on NIKE from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Williams Trading dropped their price objective on NIKE from $93.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on NIKE from $88.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Holmes Swan purchased 8,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $502,756.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. The trade was a 36.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Price Performance

NKE stock opened at $57.34 on Tuesday. 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 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $98.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $66.36 and its 200 day moving average is $72.71. The firm has a market cap of $84.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.