Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Sells 21,676 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 40.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,904 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 21,676 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $2,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased 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 purchasing an additional 6,507,856 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $228,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,357,745 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of NIKE during the third quarter valued at approximately $148,635,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $73.02 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $108.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $74.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.05. NIKE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.62 and a 52-week high of $107.34.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The company 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%. NIKE’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NKE. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Fifteen investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.62.

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.