Principal Securities Inc. Lowers Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Principal Securities Inc. cut its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 25.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,422 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 1,524 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NKE. TigerOak Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter valued at $495,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 65.5% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 24,494 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,853,000 after acquiring an additional 9,694 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 17,880 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NIKE by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,303,836 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $98,661,000 after acquiring an additional 8,184 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Down 0.9 %

NKE opened at $76.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.01. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $68.62 and a one year high of $106.62. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $74.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.13.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion during 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 company’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NKE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays reduced their target price on NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

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.