Covea Finance Acquires 54,329 Shares of NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Covea Finance lifted its holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 15.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 408,095 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after buying an additional 54,329 shares during the quarter. Covea Finance’s holdings in NIKE were worth $28,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NKE. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 344.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,698,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,694,842,000 after buying an additional 20,688,013 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in NIKE by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 45,383,916 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,880,971,000 after purchasing an additional 9,043,180 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of NIKE in the 1st quarter valued at about $509,051,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of NIKE in the 1st quarter valued at about $502,285,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,151,080 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $7,182,831,000 after purchasing an additional 4,957,494 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NIKE Stock Performance

NYSE:NKE opened at $71.29 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.29 billion, a PE ratio of 33.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.28 and a twelve month high of $90.62.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The footwear maker reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. NIKE had a return on equity of 23.33% and a net margin of 6.95%.The firm had revenue of $11.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 74.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.93, for a total value of $6,535,902.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 744,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,566,938.84. This trade represents a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised NIKE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 6th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on NIKE from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on NIKE from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded NIKE from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.04.

NIKE Company Profile

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.