Polen Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Key Points

• Polen Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in NIKE, Inc. by 54.4% during the first quarter, selling 7,398 shares and bringing its total holdings to 6,209 shares valued at $394,000.
• NIKE reported $0.14 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates of $0.12, with total revenue of $11.10 billion, down 11.9% from the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, which will be paid on October 1st, representing an annualized dividend yield of 2.2%.

Polen Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) by 54.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,209 shares of the footwear maker's stock after selling 7,398 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC's holdings in NIKE were worth $394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,317,084 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $464,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103,281 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 27.2% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,758 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 10,889 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 2,340 shares during the last quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 44,241 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $2,808,000 after purchasing an additional 2,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 1st quarter valued at $226,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company's stock.

NIKE Price Performance

NKE stock traded up $0.89 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $74.91. The stock had a trading volume of 6,397,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,926,941. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.50. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.28 and a twelve month high of $90.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.68, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.27. The company's 50-day moving average price is $70.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.60.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The footwear maker reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.02. NIKE had a return on equity of 23.33% and a net margin of 6.95%. The company had revenue of $11.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. NIKE's revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. NIKE's payout ratio is presently 74.07%.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 110,000 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.29, for a total value of $7,951,900.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 842,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,894,276.69. The trade was a 11.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on NKE. Bank of America increased their price objective on NIKE from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. DZ Bank lowered NIKE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $76.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on NIKE from $97.00 to $75.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NIKE from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $64.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on NIKE in a research report on Sunday, July 6th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.22.

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.