Ballast Inc. Purchases 168 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Ballast Inc. lifted its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,499 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new position in NIKE during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,839,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in NIKE by 138.2% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,233 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 6,518 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in NIKE by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE in the 1st quarter worth about $278,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 433,950 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $58,392,000 after purchasing an additional 38,903 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on NKE. DZ Bank upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on NIKE from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer cut NIKE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet cut NIKE from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on NIKE from $142.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.52.

NIKE Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:NKE opened at $93.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $143.03 billion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10. NIKE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.66 and a 12-month high of $128.68. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.63. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The footwear maker reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.29. NIKE had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 39.41%. The firm had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.28 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 1st. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 43.53%.

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.