Inkwell Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Inkwell Capital LLC bought a new position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 34,202 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,588,000. NIKE comprises about 2.8% of Inkwell Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at $1,126,288,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $516,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake 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 worth $228,165,000 after buying an additional 2,357,745 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,438,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson raised NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup cut NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Down 3.8 %

NKE opened at $63.32 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $74.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.93. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.14 and a fifty-two week high of $98.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.26. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The business had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.16%.

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.