Arjuna Capital Purchases 4,486 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Arjuna Capital grew its holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 154.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,486 shares during the period. Arjuna Capital’s holdings in NIKE were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $516,166,000 after buying an additional 6,709,985 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in NIKE by 1,209,638.7% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $575,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507,856 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in NIKE by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 358.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $228,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,357,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter worth $156,438,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NKE has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.77.

NIKE Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NKE stock opened at $78.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.62 and a 12-month high of $102.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $74.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.21.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $12.35 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 49.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.