Wills Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Wills Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 10.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,623 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 4,200 shares during the quarter. NIKE makes up approximately 1.3% of Wills Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Wills Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $3,149,000 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 the company. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in NIKE in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,628,000. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in NIKE by 19.5% in the third quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,510 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $3,669,000 after purchasing an additional 6,778 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 14.3% in the third quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 93,521 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $8,267,000 after buying an additional 11,665 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 49.4% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 40,238 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,557,000 after buying an additional 13,300 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 23.2% during the third quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 747,675 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $66,094,000 after buying an additional 140,632 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NKE opened at $78.58 on Friday. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.75 and a 1-year high of $123.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.80. The stock has a market cap of $117.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The footwear maker reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $11.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.64 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 39.84% and a net margin of 10.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on NIKE from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Williams Trading raised shares of NIKE from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.54.

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.