ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $356,000 Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,700 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 304 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of NIKE by 9.6% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 107,821 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $8,126,000 after acquiring an additional 9,471 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NIKE by 2.0% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 272,650 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $20,550,000 after buying an additional 5,424 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NIKE during the second quarter worth $674,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in NIKE by 3.0% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 14,750 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,112,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in NIKE by 71.5% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 46,500 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,505,000 after buying an additional 19,390 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on NKE. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.96.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NKE opened at $73.22 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.92. NIKE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.32 and a 52-week high of $107.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.30 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 49.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company 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.