Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,013 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,905 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NKE. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 344.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,698,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,694,842,000 after purchasing an additional 20,688,013 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in NIKE by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 45,383,916 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,880,971,000 after acquiring an additional 9,043,180 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in NIKE during the 1st quarter worth approximately $509,051,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in NIKE in the 1st quarter worth approximately $502,285,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in NIKE by 4.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,151,080 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $7,182,831,000 after acquiring an additional 4,957,494 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.93, for a total transaction of $6,535,902.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 744,988 shares in the company, valued at $56,566,938.84. The trade was a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NIKE Stock Down 3.4%

NYSE:NKE opened at $72.01 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.19. The company has a market capitalization of $106.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.29. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $52.28 and a one year high of $84.76. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.24.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $11.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.96 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 21.16% and a net margin of 6.23%.NIKE’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 82.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NKE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Argus upgraded NIKE to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on NIKE from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.57.

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.