Financial Architects Inc Has $1.22 Million Stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Financial Architects Inc grew its stake in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 135.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,057 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,370 shares during the quarter. Financial Architects Inc’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of NIKE during the first quarter worth $2,839,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in NIKE by 138.2% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 11,233 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,511,000 after buying an additional 6,518 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in NIKE by 13.3% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new position in NIKE in the first quarter valued at about $278,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 9.8% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 433,950 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $58,392,000 after acquiring an additional 38,903 shares in the last quarter. 63.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 58,091 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $5,785,863.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,255,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,057,760. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other NIKE news, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 13,072 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $96.13 per share, for a total transaction of $1,256,611.36. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,730,820.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 58,091 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $5,785,863.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,255,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,057,760. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NIKE Stock Up 1.5 %

NKE opened at $105.76 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.07. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.66 and a 1-year high of $131.31. The stock has a market cap of $160.96 billion, a PE ratio of 32.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 28th. The footwear maker reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 34.97%. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is a boost from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 41.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NKE shares. Williams Trading upgraded NIKE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Friday, September 29th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of NIKE from $124.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of NIKE from $143.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 28th. TheStreet lowered shares of NIKE from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut NIKE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.50.

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.