Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Stock Price

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $74.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the footwear maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 0.39% from the company’s current price.

NKE has been the topic of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.69.

NIKE Stock Down 1.3 %

NKE opened at $71.72 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $106.08 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE has a 52 week low of $68.62 and a 52 week high of $101.92.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter worth $642,000. Cacti Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth $9,987,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new position in shares of NIKE in the 4th quarter worth $5,384,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of NIKE by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 25,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,955,000 after buying an additional 6,124 shares during the period. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of NIKE by 5,745.9% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 8,652 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 8,504 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

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.