NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Shares Sold by Foster Group Inc.

Foster Group Inc. lowered its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,217 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. Foster Group Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in NIKE by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $5,140,796,000 after buying an additional 1,862,021 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in NIKE by 5.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,442,145 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,425,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,093 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NIKE by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,029,380 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,204,451,000 after purchasing an additional 251,411 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in NIKE by 6.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,303,182 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $910,801,000 after purchasing an additional 583,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of NIKE by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,602,534 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $760,716,000 after buying an additional 117,187 shares in the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NKE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.96.

NIKE Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE NKE opened at $74.38 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. NIKE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.32 and a 12 month high of $107.43. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $75.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.95. The company has a market capitalization of $110.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This is an increase from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.