First Merchants Corp Sells 512 Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

First Merchants Corp lowered its holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,306 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 512 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in NIKE by 139,649.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,813,307 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,967,325,000 after buying an additional 16,801,276 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of NIKE during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,345,203,000. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of NIKE during the third quarter worth approximately $679,775,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,720,119 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,594,561,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 433.5% during the third quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,128,587 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $394,775,000 after purchasing an additional 3,354,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Trading Down 0.3 %

NKE opened at $88.84 on Monday. NIKE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.66 and a fifty-two week high of $128.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.74 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $100.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.46.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The footwear maker reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $12.28 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NKE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $134.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of NIKE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.52.

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.