NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Stake Lessened by Morse Asset Management Inc

Morse Asset Management Inc lessened its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,355 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in NIKE were worth $632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JNBA Financial Advisors grew its holdings in NIKE by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 10,045 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in NIKE by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 20,446 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Elgethun Capital Management lifted its position in NIKE by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 1,236 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,500 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, AlTi Global Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 36,996 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,813,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Dbs Bank raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered NIKE from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. China Renaissance assumed coverage on NIKE in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Williams Trading cut their target price on NIKE from $93.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Seventeen research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.11.

NIKE Trading Up 7.4%

Shares of NKE stock opened at $62.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $92.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.08. 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 fifty-two week low of $52.28 and a fifty-two week high of $98.04.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan acquired 8,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. This represents a 36.78% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About NIKE

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.