Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,628,256 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,418,839 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $577,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on NKE. Dbs Bank raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Cfra Research upgraded shares of NIKE to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NIKE Trading Up 0.4 %

NKE opened at $63.57 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. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $62.65 and a one year high of $98.04. The company has a market cap of $94.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.62, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.82.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. 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 2.52%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.16%.

NIKE 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.