WestEnd Advisors LLC Has $177,000 Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

WestEnd Advisors LLC decreased its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 99.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,345 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 405,904 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $642,000. Cacti Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth $9,987,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,384,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its stake in NIKE by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 25,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after buying an additional 6,124 shares during the period. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in NIKE by 5,745.9% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 8,652 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 8,504 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NKE. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 acquisition, the director now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NIKE Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $68.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.12 and a 200-day moving average of $78.01. NIKE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.62 and a 52-week high of $107.43. The stock has a market cap of $101.60 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is 49.38%.

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.