WCM Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 100.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,810 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,966 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $2,524,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 239.1% during the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 84,603 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $6,402,000 after purchasing an additional 59,652 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 595.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 161,345 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $12,209,000 after buying an additional 138,131 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in NIKE by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 196,586 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $14,876,000 after acquiring an additional 2,485 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in NIKE by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,218 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,833,000 after acquiring an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Finally, Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $654,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on NKE. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of 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 decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler raised NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $72.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NIKE from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Fifteen equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.62.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $70.90 on Tuesday. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.62 and a 1-year high of $107.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.09.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This is an increase from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NIKE 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, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.