Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Acquires 78,106 Shares of NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Key Points

• Teachers Retirement System of Kentucky boosted its NIKE stake by 42.2% in Q4, buying an additional 78,106 shares to hold 263,125 shares valued at about $16.77 million.
• Company insiders increased positions recently — Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 11,781 shares and Director Timothy D. Cook bought 25,000 shares; insiders purchased a total of 64,441 shares (~$2.73M) over the last three months, raising insider ownership to 0.80%.
• Market and analyst signals are mixed: NIKE beat quarterly EPS ($0.35 vs. $0.29) and pays a 3.7% dividend, but the stock has a consensus "Hold" rating (17 Buys, 17 Holds, 2 Sells, $62.34 target) and short interest jumped about 22.8%, signaling continued investor skepticism.

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) by 42.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 263,125 shares of the footwear maker's stock after purchasing an additional 78,106 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in NIKE were worth $16,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NKE. Harris Associates L P bought a new stake in NIKE during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $621,525,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in NIKE by 42.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,838,528 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $825,501,000 after buying an additional 3,518,666 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in NIKE by 129.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,849,636 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $411,951,000 after buying an additional 3,299,155 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the third quarter valued at approximately $190,182,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 85.2% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 5,187,020 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $369,160,000 after buying an additional 2,385,815 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 11,781 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $42.44 per share, for a total transaction of $499,985.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 55,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,337,340.56. The trade was a 27.21% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy D. Cook purchased 25,000 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $42.43 per share, with a total value of $1,060,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 130,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,536,266.40. The trade was a 23.70% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 64,441 shares of company stock worth $2,734,204 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NKE opened at $44.74 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.31. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $42.09 and a 12 month high of $80.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The footwear maker reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.06. NIKE had a net margin of 4.84% and a return on equity of 16.41%. The firm had revenue of $11.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. The company's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. NIKE's payout ratio is currently 108.61%.

Key Stories Impacting NIKE

Here are the key news stories impacting NIKE this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "buy" on NKE, keeping institutional-level support for the turnaround thesis and signaling confidence from an influential sell-side shop. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: CEO-level confidence: reports say Nike's CEO personally increased a compensation/skin-in-the-game commitment by $1M, which investors often view as alignment with shareholder interests. MSN
• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction to the latest cost actions was initially supportive: NKE ticked up after-hours when the company announced another round of layoffs, suggesting investors see near-term margin/cash-flow benefits. MSN After-hours
• Positive Sentiment: DZ Bank also reaffirmed a buy rating, adding a second endorsement from the sell-side that supports the case for recovery if execution improves. AmericanBankingNews
• Neutral Sentiment: Nike announced roughly 1,400 job cuts (mainly in technology) as part of its "Win Now" efficiency push — a move that should reduce costs but also underscores that the turnaround is still in progress. WSJ
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest jumped ~22.8% in April to ~56.1M shares (≈3.8% of float), signaling growing bearish positioning and increased potential selling pressure despite a modest days-to-cover ratio (~1.4). (internal short-interest report)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst debate and structural concerns persist: commentary about a potential "generational reset" and multi-year share losses reflects skepticism that execution and product momentum will recover quickly. Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure and talent migration (e.g., a former Nike executive named CEO at Lululemon) highlight market-share threats that could weigh on near-term sales recovery. FinancialPost

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NKE shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of NIKE from $69.00 to $57.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of NIKE in a report on Monday, April 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "buy" rating on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Evercore cut their price target on NIKE from $69.00 to $57.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, DA Davidson cut NIKE from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.34.

NIKE Company Profile

Nike, Inc NYSE: NKE is a global designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman and renamed Nike in 1971, the company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. Nike develops and commercializes products across performance and lifestyle categories for sports including running, basketball, soccer and training, and is known for signature technologies and design-driven product lines.

The company markets products under several primary brands, including Nike, Jordan and Converse, and sells through a combination of wholesale relationships, branded retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels such as company-operated stores and digital platforms (e.g., Nike.com and mobile apps).

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