Arjuna Capital Cuts Position in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Arjuna Capital trimmed its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 32.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,627 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 2,243 shares during the period. Arjuna Capital’s holdings in NIKE were worth $329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NKE. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in NIKE by 410.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 132,942 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $9,444,000 after purchasing an additional 106,891 shares during the last quarter. Westerkirk Capital Inc. bought a new position in NIKE during the second quarter valued at $5,989,000. NBW Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of NIKE by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 34,608 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,459,000 after buying an additional 3,080 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in shares of NIKE by 6,482.2% in the 2nd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 2,983,563 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $211,952,000 after buying an additional 2,938,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Solidarity Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC now owns 94,792 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $6,771,000 after buying an additional 13,247 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NKE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a report on Monday, September 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $68.00 price objective on NIKE and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $72.00 price objective on NIKE and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $85.00 price objective on NIKE and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised NIKE from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.24.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.80, for a total value of $5,577,854.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 647,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,965,452. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Treasure Heinle sold 4,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.27, for a total transaction of $306,461.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 29,396 shares in the company, valued at $2,095,052.92. This represents a 12.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NKE stock opened at $65.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.12. NIKE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.28 and a 52-week high of $82.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 2.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.29.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.22. NIKE had a return on equity of 21.16% and a net margin of 6.23%.The company had revenue of $11.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. NIKE’s payout ratio is 84.10%.

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.