Five Consumer Non-Durables Stocks That Hedge Funds Love

#4 Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE)

– Hedge Funds with Long Positions (as of September 30): 59

– Aggregate Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of September 30): $4.5 billion

Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE)’s stock saw a gradual rise since the start of 2015 and was among the few large-cap stocks that ended the year with significant gains (up by over 30%). This outperformance has definitely helped the stock gain more popularity with two more funds covered by Insider Monkey adding Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) to their portfolios and the aggregate value of these funds’ holdings increased by over 30% during the third quarter.

On December 22, the company reported its fiscal 2016 second quarter results, declaring EPS of $0.90 on revenue of $7.69 billion. For the same quarter of the previous year, the company reported EPS of $0.74 on revenue of $7.40 billion. Two days following the earnings release, Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE)’s stock underwent a previously announced 2-for-1 stock split. Since the split materialized, shares of the company have been trending lower. The $0.16 per share quarterly dividend the company currently provides translates into an annual dividend yield of 1.09% at current levels.

Most analysts that cover Nike’s stock have a ‘Buy’ rating with an average price target of $73.09, which represents a potential upside of  24% from the stock’s current price. Billionaire Andreas Halvorsen‘s Viking Global was one of the hedge funds that initiated a stake in the company during the third quarter, reporting nearly 1.77 million shares.