Motco Lowers Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Motco lessened its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 55.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,136 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 2,713 shares during the quarter. Motco’s holdings in NIKE were worth $162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NKE. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NIKE during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Caitlin John LLC raised its stake in NIKE by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in NIKE during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in NIKE during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in NIKE during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.77.

NIKE Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $79.43 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.62 and a 1 year high of $105.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $74.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.33. The stock has a market cap of $117.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.01.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The company had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. 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.