NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Shares Down 9.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) shares were down 9.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $70.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. NIKE traded as low as $53.60 and last traded at $53.76. Approximately 15,401,749 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 11% from the average daily volume of 13,823,561 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.32.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup lowered shares of NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on NIKE from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In related news, Director Robert Holmes Swan acquired 8,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $58.46 per share, for a total transaction of $502,756.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. This trade represents a 36.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NKE. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Caitlin John LLC boosted its stake in NIKE by 117.0% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in NIKE in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its position in NIKE by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NIKE during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $70.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.93. The company has a market cap of $80.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.26. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

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.