Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,938 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in NIKE by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,720,119 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,594,561,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410,744 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in NIKE by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 22,371,886 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,469,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,493,704 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in NIKE by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,502,409 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,769,200,000 after acquiring an additional 125,746 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 139,649.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,813,307 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,967,325,000 after buying an additional 16,801,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,557,676 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,487,625,000 after buying an additional 674,198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NIKE stock traded down $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $94.53. 11,241,901 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,692,355. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $88.66 and a twelve month high of $128.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The footwear maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.29. NIKE had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 39.41%. The company had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.28 billion. Research analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of NIKE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Bank of America upgraded shares of NIKE from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $110.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of NIKE from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NIKE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.26.

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.