18,882 Shares in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Bought by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 18,882 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,688,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 5.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,049,294 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $832,785,000 after purchasing an additional 571,544 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in NIKE by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,303,182 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $910,801,000 after buying an additional 583,207 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,602,534 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $760,716,000 after buying an additional 117,187 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 19.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,209,868 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $637,352,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,252 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507,856 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on NIKE from $84.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on NIKE from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on NIKE from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.71.

NIKE Stock Performance

NKE stock opened at $78.86 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.84. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.75 and a fifty-two week high of $123.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.24 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The footwear maker reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $11.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.64 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 39.84% and a net margin of 10.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.85%.

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.