Alberta Investment Management Corp Increases Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) by 54.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 285,627 shares of the footwear maker's stock after acquiring an additional 100,900 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp's holdings in NIKE were worth $21,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $516,166,000 after buying an additional 6,709,985 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in 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 worth $575,342,000 after buying an additional 6,507,856 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in NIKE by 358.6% during the fourth 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. State Street Corp boosted its stake in NIKE by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $5,140,796,000 after buying an additional 1,862,021 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in NIKE during the third quarter worth about $148,635,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on NKE shares. Citigroup lowered shares of NIKE from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $88.62.

Insider Activity

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

NIKE Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:NKE traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $76.50. The company had a trading volume of 12,813,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,223,615. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.62 and a fifty-two week high of $106.62. The business's fifty day moving average is $74.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.09. The firm has a market cap of $113.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. NIKE's quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. NIKE's payout ratio is 49.38%.

About NIKE

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.