NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Trading Down 1.7% on Analyst Downgrade

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) shares traded down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Friday 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 $52.86 and last traded at $53.45. 6,697,516 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 13,969,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.40.

Several other brokerages have also commented on NKE. Cfra Research upgraded shares of NIKE to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Dbs Bank upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on NIKE from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NIKE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 8,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $58.46 per share, for a total transaction of $502,756.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. The trade was a 36.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NIKE

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NKE. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at about $642,000. Cacti Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in NIKE in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,987,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,384,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. increased its position in NIKE by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 25,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 6,124 shares during the period. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 5,745.9% during 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 in the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NIKE Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $70.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.93.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The business’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.16%.

NIKE Company Profile

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.