NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Stock Holdings Reduced by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lowered its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 51,754 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 7,638 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $3,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $516,166,000 after buying an additional 6,709,985 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after buying an additional 6,507,856 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 358.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $228,165,000 after buying an additional 2,357,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter worth about $156,438,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE NKE opened at $71.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $106.08 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $68.62 and a one year high of $101.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. NIKE’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is 49.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on NIKE from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. DA Davidson raised NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NIKE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the 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 $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.