First Merchants Corp Sells 422 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

First Merchants Corp decreased its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,482 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 422 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in NIKE were worth $490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $5,140,796,000 after buying an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in NIKE by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,442,145 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,425,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,093 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of NIKE by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,029,380 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,204,451,000 after acquiring an additional 251,411 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,303,182 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $910,801,000 after purchasing an additional 583,207 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,602,534 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $760,716,000 after purchasing an additional 117,187 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NKE. Truist Financial lowered their price target on NIKE from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NIKE from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NKE stock opened at $73.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $74.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.00. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $68.62 and a one year high of $107.34. The stock has a market cap of $108.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. NIKE’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 49.38%.

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.