Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in NIKE, Inc. $NKE

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) by 5.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,325,122 shares of the footwear maker’s stock after selling 80,947 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NIKE were worth $54,396,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NIKE in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 108.4% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 548 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NKE shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (down from $72.00) on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $45.00 price target on NIKE and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group set a $47.00 price target on NIKE and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.53.

NIKE Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NKE stock opened at $40.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.36. NIKE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.00 and a 1-year high of $80.17. The firm has a market cap of $60.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.49, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.11.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.09. NIKE had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. NIKE’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.47%.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In related news, COO Venkatesh Alagirisamy sold 890 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.60, for a total value of $37,024.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 74,820 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,112,512. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Amy Montagne sold 4,867 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.05, for a total value of $204,657.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 57,436 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,183.80. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 26,142 shares of company stock valued at $1,169,380 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About NIKE

Nike, Inc (NYSE: NKE) is a global designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman and renamed Nike in 1971, the company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. Nike develops and commercializes products across performance and lifestyle categories for sports including running, basketball, soccer and training, and is known for signature technologies and design-driven product lines.

The company markets products under several primary brands, including Nike, Jordan and Converse, and sells through a combination of wholesale relationships, branded retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels such as company-operated stores and digital platforms (e.g., Nike.com and mobile apps).