South Dakota Investment Council Increases Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

South Dakota Investment Council raised its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,953 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after buying an additional 7,114 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in NIKE were worth $5,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $516,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507,856 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 358.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $228,165,000 after purchasing an additional 2,357,745 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE in the 3rd quarter worth $148,635,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lowered NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NIKE Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:NKE opened at $76.50 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.62 and a 12 month high of $106.62. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.16. The company has a market cap of $113.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.01.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

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.