Wealthfront Advisers LLC Trims Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC lessened its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 71.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,635 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 51,414 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in NIKE by 6,029.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709,985 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after buying an additional 6,507,856 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in NIKE by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in NIKE by 358.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $228,165,000 after buying an additional 2,357,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter worth about $156,438,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NKE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on NIKE from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 note on Monday, February 24th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.69.

NIKE Price Performance

NYSE:NKE opened at $71.72 on Friday. NIKE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.62 and a 1 year high of $101.92. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $106.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.86.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The business’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.