E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Lowers Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 25.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,032 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 3,436 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,089,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NKE. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC boosted its holdings in NIKE by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 37,510 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $3,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in NIKE during the fourth quarter worth $8,034,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. raised its position in NIKE by 2,332.5% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 184,042 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $17,598,000 after acquiring an additional 176,476 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in NIKE by 10,184.3% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 388,131 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $42,139,000 after acquiring an additional 384,357 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 55.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 194,164 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $21,080,000 after purchasing an additional 69,363 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NKE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $127.00 to $117.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America upgraded NIKE from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $113.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their target price on NIKE from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on NIKE from $134.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other news, EVP Monique S. Matheson sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.16, for a total value of $4,237,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,917.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NIKE Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NKE traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $93.39. The company had a trading volume of 6,262,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,149,533. The stock has a market cap of $140.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.84. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.66 and a fifty-two week high of $126.46.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The footwear maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.28 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 39.41% and a net margin of 10.14%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. NIKE’s payout ratio is 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.