Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 51,045 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 325,550 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 51,045 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $24,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter worth $642,000. Cacti Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth about $9,987,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth about $5,384,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its position in NIKE by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 25,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 6,124 shares during the period. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in NIKE by 5,745.9% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 8,652 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 8,504 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $64.78 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $95.81 billion, a PE ratio of 19.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.65 and a 1-year high of $98.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.72.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion for 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%. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is 53.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NKE shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on NIKE from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NIKE currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.38.

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.