Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 34.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 605,675 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after buying an additional 154,862 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $31,992,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings in NIKE by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,719 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,978 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 5,868 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ANB Bank increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. ANB Bank now owns 25,451 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other news, CEO Elliott Hill purchased 23,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $42.27 per share, with a total value of $1,000,108.20. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Philip Mccartney sold 17,398 shares of the firm’s 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 $2,453,681.94. This represents a 24.67% decrease in their position. 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 currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NKE. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Bank of America cut their price target on NIKE from $55.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings cut NIKE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen raised NIKE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on NIKE from $69.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Thirteen equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NIKE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.80.

NIKE Price Performance

NKE traded up $1.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $44.39. 23,290,306 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,765,434. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.40. NIKE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.00 and a 1 year high of $80.17.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.09. NIKE had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 78.47%.

NIKE Company 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).