Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $19.51 Million Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 257,776 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 1,468 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in NIKE were worth $19,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in NIKE by 6,029.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after buying an additional 6,709,985 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 6,507,856 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in 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 valued at $228,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,357,745 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in NIKE by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in NIKE during the third quarter worth $148,635,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NKE. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NIKE from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Fourteen research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NIKE Stock Performance

NYSE NKE opened at $71.75 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $75.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.10. The stock has a market cap of $106.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.32 and a fifty-two week high of $107.43.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The company had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. NIKE’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS 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 issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.38%.

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.