Troy Asset Management Ltd Purchases 85,330 Shares of NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Troy Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 23.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 446,849 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,330 shares during the period. NIKE makes up 0.8% of Troy Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in NIKE were worth $31,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 0.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,823,785 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $8,086,042,000 after buying an additional 672,705 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in NIKE by 2.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,154,159 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $4,225,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590,603 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 66.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,157,198 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $863,647,000 after purchasing an additional 4,840,114 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 42.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,838,528 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $825,501,000 after purchasing an additional 3,518,666 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NIKE in the second quarter worth about $835,063,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of NIKE in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $67.00 price objective on NIKE in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on NIKE from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.61.

NIKE Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $63.07 on Friday. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.28 and a 1-year high of $82.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The footwear maker reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.16. NIKE had a net margin of 5.43% and a return on equity of 18.43%. The business had revenue of $12.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 8,691 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $57.54 per share, for a total transaction of $500,080.14. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 43,293 shares in the company, valued at $2,491,079.22. This represents a 25.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Elliott Hill bought 16,388 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $61.10 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,306.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 241,587 shares in the company, valued at $14,760,965.70. This represents a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders bought a total of 75,079 shares of company stock worth $4,449,887 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

NIKE 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).