Central Securities Corp Makes New Investment in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Central Securities Corp bought a new stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,000,000 shares of the footwear maker’s stock, valued at approximately $75,670,000. NIKE makes up approximately 6.8% of Central Securities Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Central Securities Corp owned about 0.07% of NIKE as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in NIKE by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,915,110,000 after buying an additional 347,178 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position 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 buying an additional 3,121,929 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth about $1,126,288,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in NIKE by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,205,753 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $696,599,000 after acquiring an additional 603,219 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on NKE. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup lowered NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on NIKE from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.38.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $57.17 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $72.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.27. The firm has a market cap of $84.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.50 and a 1-year high of $98.04.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.