Argent Advisors Inc. Sells 977 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Argent Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,909 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 977 shares during the period. Argent Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NIKE during the fourth quarter valued at $642,000. Cacti Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NIKE during the fourth quarter valued at $9,987,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new position in shares of NIKE during the fourth quarter valued at $5,384,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 25,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 6,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 5,745.9% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 8,652 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 8,504 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NKE shares. DA Davidson upgraded shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.54.

NIKE Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $73.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.71. NIKE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.62 and a 1 year high of $101.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The company had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd 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 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About NIKE

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.