NIKE Inc. (NKE): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Hedge fund activity in NIKE Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Heading into 2016, a total of 63 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, an increase of 7% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Alex Snow’s Lansdowne Partners has the largest position in NIKE Inc. (NYSE:NKE), worth close to $1.03 billion, corresponding to 7.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Lone Pine Capital, led by Stephen Mandel, holding a $718.5 million position; the fund has 3.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining members of the smart money that hold long positions include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global and Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Scopus Asset Management, managed by Alexander Mitchell, created the largest position in NIKE Inc. (NYSE:NKE). Scopus Asset Management had $93.8 million invested in the company at the end of 2015. Gabriel Plotkin’s Melvin Capital Management also made a $56.3 million investment in the stock during the fourth quarter. The following funds were also among the new NKE investors: Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management, Joe DiMenna’s ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS, and Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital.

The final page of this article discusses the hedge fund activity in other companies that have market capitalizations similar to the one of NIKE.