Highland Capital Management LLC Buys 35,643 Shares of NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Key Points

• Highland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NIKE by 51.7% during the second quarter, purchasing an additional 35,643 shares to reach a total of 104,525 shares valued at approximately $7.4 million.
• NIKE has received multiple analyst upgrades, with price targets ranging from $72.00 to $115.00, and currently holds a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" along with a price target of $81.57.
• The company recently reported earnings per share of $0.49 for the quarter, surpassing expectations, with quarterly revenue of $11.72 billion, a 1.0% increase year-over-year.

Highland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) by 51.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,525 shares of the footwear maker's stock after purchasing an additional 35,643 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC's holdings in NIKE were worth $7,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in NIKE by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 9,872 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of NIKE by 0.6% in the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,008,340 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $69,932,000 after buying an additional 5,601 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in NIKE during the first quarter valued at $25,963,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its stake in NIKE by 36.2% during the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 658,598 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $41,808,000 after buying an additional 175,000 shares during the period. Finally, Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its position in NIKE by 42.2% during the first quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 91,000 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $5,777,000 after buying an additional 27,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NKE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price target on NIKE and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Monday, September 29th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of NIKE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $62.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Argus raised shares of NIKE to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, July 6th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated a "market perform" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.57.

NIKE Stock Down 3.4%

NKE opened at $72.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $106.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.29. The business's 50-day moving average price is $74.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.28 and a 12 month high of $84.76.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. NIKE's payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.93, for a total transaction of $6,535,902.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 744,988 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,566,938.84. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate 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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