NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Shares Purchased by Empirical Asset Management LLC

Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 487.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,864 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after buying an additional 14,824 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $575,342,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507,856 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in NIKE by 358.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $228,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,357,745 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 3rd quarter worth about $148,635,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE during the third quarter worth about $144,927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson raised shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on NIKE from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.96.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NIKE Trading Down 0.3 %

NKE opened at $70.89 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $75.87 and its 200-day moving average is $77.96. NIKE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.32 and a 52-week high of $107.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion for 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. This is an increase from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

NIKE 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.