Empirical Finance LLC Buys 786 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,674 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 786 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in NIKE were worth $3,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in NIKE by 5.8% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,852 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,048,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in NIKE by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 185,320 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $16,382,000 after buying an additional 12,351 shares during the period. Intellectus Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 54.0% during the third quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 11,698 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 4,102 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in NIKE by 7.8% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,792 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE in the 3rd quarter worth $29,628,000. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $76.35 on Friday. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.75 and a fifty-two week high of $123.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $81.07 and a 200 day moving average of $83.44.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The footwear maker reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $11.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.64 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 39.84%. NIKE’s revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. This is a boost from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on NKE. Williams Trading raised shares of NIKE from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $67.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on NIKE from $88.00 to $79.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.48.

NIKE 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.