Allianz SE Makes New $10 Million Investment in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 132,907 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $9,998,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised 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 buying an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 5.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,442,145 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,425,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,093 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,029,380 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,204,451,000 after purchasing an additional 251,411 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,126,288,000. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NKE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on NIKE from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Cfra Research upgraded shares of NIKE to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $63.32 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. NIKE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $63.14 and a 52 week high of $98.04. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.94. The company has a market capitalization of $93.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 53.16%.

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.