SOL Capital Management CO Increases Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

SOL Capital Management CO lifted its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,071 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings in NIKE were worth $459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NKE. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in NIKE by 6.8% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 230,215 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $17,351,000 after buying an additional 14,584 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 2nd quarter valued at $11,390,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE in the 2nd quarter worth $207,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in NIKE by 27.1% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,238 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in NIKE by 625.4% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 76,900 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,796,000 after purchasing an additional 66,299 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NKE. Barclays decreased their price objective on NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group downgraded shares of NIKE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.96.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $76.82 on Friday. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.32 and a 1-year high of $107.43. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $75.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.38%.

NIKE Company Profile

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.