NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is a stalwart in many investors’ equity portfolios. So how are the clothing and shoe giant’s richest investors trading the stock? Let’s see.
To the average investor, there are dozens of metrics market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive margin (see just how much).
Equally as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to look at the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are many stimuli for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
Thus, let’s examine the newest info surrounding NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE).
Hedge fund activity in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)
At Q2’s end, a total of 47 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 15% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
According to our 13F database, Lansdowne Partners, managed by Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz, holds the biggest position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE). Lansdowne Partners has a $829.1 million position in the stock, comprising 10.5% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Rob Citrone of Discovery Capital Management, with a $299.3 million position; the fund has 3.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited, Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors and Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital.
As aggregate interest spiked, certain bigger names have been driving this bullishness. Lansdowne Partners, managed by Paul Ruddockáand Steve Heinz, initiated the most outsized position in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE). Lansdowne Partners had 829.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management also made a $299.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new NKE investors: John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited, Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors, and Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital.
What have insiders been doing with NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)?
Insider buying is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 10 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE). These stocks are Iconix Brand Group Inc (NASDAQ:ICON), Steven Madden, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SHOO), Deckers Outdoor Corp (NASDAQ:DECK), Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW), and Coach, Inc. (NYSE:COH). This group of stocks belong to the textile – apparel footwear & accessories industry and their market caps match NKE’s market cap.