Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. Cuts Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Fundsmith Investment Services LTD. trimmed its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,226,357 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 88,151 shares during the quarter. NIKE makes up approximately 2.6% of Fundsmith Investment Services LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Fundsmith Investment Services LTD.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $141,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Westerkirk Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in NIKE by 52.4% during the fourth quarter. Westerkirk Capital Inc. now owns 131,220 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $8,360,000 after purchasing an additional 45,100 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE during the third quarter worth about $34,200,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its position in shares of NIKE by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 2,526,179 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $160,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,499 shares during the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter worth about $43,188,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in NIKE in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,743,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NKE has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on NIKE from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group set a $50.00 price target on NIKE and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. China Renaissance dropped their price target on NIKE from $74.60 to $50.30 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (down from $60.00) on shares of NIKE in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Evercore lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $69.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.89.

NIKE Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $45.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.14. The stock has a market cap of $66.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.12. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $41.35 and a 1-year high of $80.17.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The footwear maker reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.06. NIKE had a return on equity of 16.41% and a net margin of 4.84%.The firm had revenue of $11.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 108.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $43.34 per share, with a total value of $173,360.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 41,022 shares in the company, valued at $1,777,893.48. The trade was a 10.80% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan purchased 11,781 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $42.44 per share, for a total transaction of $499,985.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 55,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,340.56. The trade was a 27.21% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 64,441 shares of company stock worth $2,734,204. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

About NIKE

Nike, Inc (NYSE: NKE) is a global designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman and renamed Nike in 1971, the company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. Nike develops and commercializes products across performance and lifestyle categories for sports including running, basketball, soccer and training, and is known for signature technologies and design-driven product lines.

The company markets products under several primary brands, including Nike, Jordan and Converse, and sells through a combination of wholesale relationships, branded retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels such as company-operated stores and digital platforms (e.g., Nike.com and mobile apps).