BNP Paribas Lowers Stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

BNP Paribas decreased its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,274 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 7,709 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in NIKE were worth $2,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in NIKE by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,545,937 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,857,389,000 after buying an additional 2,288,627 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in NIKE by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter worth about $1,126,288,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Price Performance

NKE opened at $58.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $64.63 and a 200-day moving average of $72.08. 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 1-year low of $52.28 and a 1-year high of $98.04.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NKE shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $75.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on NIKE from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan purchased 8,600 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $502,756.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 31,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. This trade represents a 36.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.