NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Shares Sold by Wesbanco Bank Inc.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lowered its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 28.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 99,604 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 40,427 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $7,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $575,342,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507,856 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 358.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $228,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,357,745 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,021 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the 3rd quarter valued at $148,635,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the 3rd quarter valued at $144,927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NKE stock opened at $74.07 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.91. NIKE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.32 and a twelve month high of $107.43. The company has a market capitalization of $109.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. This is an increase from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NKE. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of NIKE from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.96.

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.