Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Purchases New Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 4,517 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in NIKE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $642,000. Cacti Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in NIKE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,987,000. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in NIKE in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,628,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 246,080 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $18,621,000 after acquiring an additional 14,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 128.1% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,680 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,868,000 after acquiring an additional 13,860 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NKE has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.96.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NKE opened at $71.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $106.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.75 and a 12 month high of $107.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $76.29 and its 200 day moving average is $78.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 10.60% and a return on equity of 39.84%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. This is a boost from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s payout ratio is 49.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.