Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Stake in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 75,953 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 10,579 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $5,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of NIKE by 388.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 202,411 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $15,316,000 after buying an additional 160,980 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 1st quarter worth about $311,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,710 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NIKE by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,438 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $4,293,000 after buying an additional 18,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in NIKE by 68.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 922,103 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $67,692,000 after purchasing an additional 373,101 shares in the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other news, Director Robert Holmes Swan acquired 8,691 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $57.54 per share, for a total transaction of $500,080.14. Following the transaction, the director owned 43,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,491,079.22. The trade was a 25.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.80, for a total transaction of $5,577,854.40. Following the sale, the chairman owned 647,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,965,452. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 75,079 shares of company stock valued at $4,449,887. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on NKE. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of NIKE in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on NIKE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of NIKE in a research note on Monday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.61.

NIKE Trading Up 0.9%

NIKE stock opened at $62.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.06. NIKE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $82.44.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The footwear maker reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $12.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.19 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 18.43% and a net margin of 5.43%.NIKE’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a boost from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 96.47%.

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).