Independence Bank of Kentucky Purchases 11,907 Shares of NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 357.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,235 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,907 shares during the quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in NIKE were worth $805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NKE. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in NIKE by 388.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 202,411 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $15,316,000 after buying an additional 160,980 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in shares of NIKE during the first quarter valued at approximately $311,000. United Bank lifted its stake in NIKE by 11.3% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 17,067 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,212,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in NIKE by 0.3% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 64,161 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $4,558,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in NIKE by 6.5% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 191,268 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $13,588,000 after acquiring an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on NKE shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of NIKE in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on NIKE from $67.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NIKE from $52.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on NIKE from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.80.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other NIKE news, CEO Elliott Hill bought 23,660 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $42.27 per share, with a total value of $1,000,108.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 265,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,211,990.69. This represents a 9.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Philip Mccartney sold 17,398 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.18, for a total value of $803,439.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 53,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,453,681.94. This represents a 24.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NIKE Stock Up 3.8%

Shares of NKE traded up $1.61 on Friday, hitting $44.39. 23,290,306 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,765,434. NIKE, Inc. has a one year low of $40.00 and a one year high of $80.17. The company has a market capitalization of $65.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.96.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.09. NIKE had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 6.70%.The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.47%.

About NIKE

Nike, Inc (NYSE: NKE) is a global designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman and renamed Nike in 1971, the company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. Nike develops and commercializes products across performance and lifestyle categories for sports including running, basketball, soccer and training, and is known for signature technologies and design-driven product lines.

The company markets products under several primary brands, including Nike, Jordan and Converse, and sells through a combination of wholesale relationships, branded retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels such as company-operated stores and digital platforms (e.g., Nike.com and mobile apps).