NS Partners Ltd Purchases 4,332 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

NS Partners Ltd grew its position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 237,982 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,332 shares during the period. NS Partners Ltd’s holdings in NIKE were worth $21,038,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,049,294 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $832,785,000 after buying an additional 571,544 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,025,616 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $454,151,000 after buying an additional 52,500 shares during the period. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD bought a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 1st quarter worth about $533,533,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 612.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,185,432 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $487,327,000 after buying an additional 4,457,376 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,885,672 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $431,893,000 after buying an additional 641,398 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Down 1.3 %

NKE opened at $73.92 on Wednesday. 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 current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $80.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.90.

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

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on NKE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” 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 report on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.30.

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.