Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $484,000 Stock Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 43.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,397 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,925 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $484,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Garrison Point Advisors LLC increased its position in NIKE by 1.9% during the third quarter. Garrison Point Advisors LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 768 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. PSI Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 624 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in NIKE by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 8,396 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $742,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frisch Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in NIKE by 4.7% during the third quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,036 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler raised NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $72.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NIKE Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NKE stock opened at $72.31 on Thursday. 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 fifty-two week low of $68.62 and a fifty-two week high of $107.34. The company has a market cap of $106.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $74.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.08.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. NIKE’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.