NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Shares Sold by Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC reduced its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 210,831 shares of the footwear maker's stock after selling 15,773 shares during the quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC's holdings in NIKE were worth $15,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NKE. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth about $5,384,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. increased its stake in NIKE by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 25,835 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 6,124 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in NIKE by 1,302.7% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,602,101 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $196,901,000 after buying an additional 2,416,601 shares during the period. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC grew its stake in NIKE by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC now owns 310,000 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $23,458,000 after purchasing an additional 90,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 670,616 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $50,746,000 after purchasing an additional 104,786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, Director Robert Holmes Swan purchased 8,600 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $58.46 per share, for a total transaction of $502,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,869,726.18. This represents a 36.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $63.13 on Monday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $61.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.66. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.28 and a 12 month high of $98.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.23.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. NIKE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NKE shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on NIKE from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on NIKE from $64.00 to $56.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of NIKE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.30.

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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