Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Stock Holdings in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in NIKE, Inc. by 17.9%, holding 163,439 shares valued at approximately $11.6 million after selling 35,621 shares in the second quarter.
• Analysts have set varying price targets for NIKE, with Goldman Sachs at $85.00 and an average consensus target price of $81.57, indicating a strong buy outlook among a majority of analysts.
• NIKE announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, reflecting a 2.5% yield, with a high dividend payout ratio of 82.05% as of the most recent quarter.

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) by 17.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 163,439 shares of the footwear maker's stock after selling 35,621 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in NIKE were worth $11,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in NIKE by 344.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,698,835 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $1,694,842,000 after purchasing an additional 20,688,013 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in NIKE by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 45,383,916 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $2,880,971,000 after purchasing an additional 9,043,180 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in NIKE in the 1st quarter worth $509,051,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in NIKE in the 1st quarter worth $502,285,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in NIKE by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,151,080 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $7,182,831,000 after purchasing an additional 4,957,494 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on NKE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $85.00 price target on shares of NIKE and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. KeyCorp set a $90.00 price target on shares of NIKE and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. UBS Group set a $71.00 target price on shares of NIKE and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $68.00 target price on shares of NIKE and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of NIKE to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, July 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.57.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NKE opened at $65.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.29. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.28 and a 12 month high of $84.76. The firm's 50-day moving average is $73.80 and its 200 day moving average is $67.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $11.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.96 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 6.23% and a return on equity of 21.16%. The firm's revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. Research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. NIKE's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Insider Activity

In other NIKE news, EVP Treasure Heinle sold 4,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.27, for a total value of $306,461.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 29,396 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,095,052.92. The trade was a 12.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 110,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.29, for a total transaction of $7,951,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 842,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,894,276.69. This trade represents a 11.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 200,378 shares of company stock worth $14,794,264 over the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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