Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 1,206 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. decreased its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 648,607 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 1,206 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $49,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in NIKE by 6,029.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $516,166,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709,985 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in NIKE by 1,209,638.7% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507,856 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in NIKE by 18.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,121,929 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in NIKE by 358.6% during 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 period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $156,438,000. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE NKE opened at $71.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.22 and a 52 week high of $101.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $74.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.56.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The business’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Monday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.54.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale 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.