Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Grows Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,497 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NKE. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Caitlin John LLC grew its position in shares of NIKE by 117.0% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on NKE shares. DA Davidson upgraded NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.62.

NIKE Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $76.50 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 firm has a market cap of $113.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.09. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.62 and a fifty-two week high of $106.62.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced 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 business had revenue of $12.35 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.38%.

NIKE Company 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.