Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,193,586 shares of the footwear maker's stock after selling 2,328,170 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 7.31% of NIKE worth $8,187,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in NIKE by 6,029.6% in 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. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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. raised its holdings in NIKE by 358.6% during 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 buying an additional 2,357,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at $156,438,000. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NKE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Dbs Bank raised shares of NIKE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler upgraded NIKE from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NIKE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $75.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, December 20th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Down 3.8 %

NKE stock traded down $2.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $63.32. 19,564,094 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,930,854. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $93.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.14 and a 1 year high of $98.04. The firm's 50 day moving average is $74.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.94.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. NIKE's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 approximately $65,301,708.56. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.