Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Invests $1.85 Million in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 24,500 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,842 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. raised its holdings in NIKE by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. now owns 40,272 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $3,047,000 after buying an additional 5,043 shares during the period. BBR Partners LLC acquired a new position in NIKE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $369,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in NIKE by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 51,617 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,927,000 after buying an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of NIKE by 510.1% in the fourth quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 25,211 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 21,079 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NKE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $72.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $75.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.77.

NIKE Price Performance

NKE opened at $78.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $74.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.18. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.62 and a fifty-two week high of $102.49. The firm has a market cap of $116.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced 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. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.38%.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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.