NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Shares Sold by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. cut its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,024 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 2,073 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $3,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in NIKE by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NIKE by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,915,110,000 after buying an additional 347,178 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 18.1% during 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,126,288,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in NIKE by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,205,753 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $696,599,000 after acquiring an additional 603,219 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Director Robert Holmes Swan acquired 8,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $502,756.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. The trade was a 36.78 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $55.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.59. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.28 and a 1-year high of $98.04. 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 company has a market cap of $81.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is 53.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NKE shares. Citigroup downgraded shares of NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Dbs Bank raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. China Renaissance began coverage on NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.19.

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.