Ledyard National Bank Trims Holdings in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Ledyard National Bank lowered its position in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,159 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 670 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in NIKE were worth $1,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 0.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,502,409 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,769,200,000 after buying an additional 125,746 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in NIKE by 4.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,557,676 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,487,625,000 after purchasing an additional 674,198 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in NIKE by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,200,932 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $766,829,000 after purchasing an additional 89,947 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new stake in NIKE during the third quarter valued at about $679,775,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in NIKE by 37.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,791,531 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $553,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583,541 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NKE shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on NIKE from $127.00 to $117.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on NIKE from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. HSBC lowered their price target on NIKE from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on NIKE from $129.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on NIKE from $124.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.26.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NKE traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $94.07. 5,032,553 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,375,687. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.74. NIKE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.66 and a 12-month high of $128.68. The company has a market cap of $141.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $96.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.33.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.28 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 39.41% and a net margin of 10.14%. Research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.