Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Makes New Investment in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. purchased a new stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 19,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $796,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its position in shares of NIKE by 49,010.4% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 48,054,542 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,061,555,000 after buying an additional 47,956,692 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at $829,956,000. Harris Associates L P purchased a new stake in NIKE during the second quarter valued at about $621,525,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in NIKE by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 49,069,951 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $3,126,246,000 after acquiring an additional 6,830,938 shares during the period. Finally, Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. increased its stake in NIKE by 2,492.4% during the fourth quarter. Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. now owns 4,883,229 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $311,111,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694,859 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on NIKE from $55.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NIKE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $45.00 to $37.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Argus raised shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, CICC Research decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $58.00 to $44.80 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.53.

NIKE Stock Performance

NIKE stock opened at $40.73 on Friday. NIKE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.00 and a 12-month high of $80.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $60.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.73.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.85 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, insider Amy Montagne sold 4,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.05, for a total value of $204,657.35. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 57,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,415,183.80. This represents a 7.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Philip Mccartney sold 17,398 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.18, for a total value of $803,439.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,453,681.94. This trade 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. Insiders have sold 26,142 shares of company stock worth $1,169,380 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Profile

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).