NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Receives Hold Rating from Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus restated their hold rating on shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE) in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $75.00 target price on the footwear maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on NKE. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen equities 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. According to MarketBeat, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.38.

NIKE Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE:NKE opened at $57.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. NIKE has a 52-week low of $52.50 and a 52-week high of $98.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 53.16%.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Caitlin John LLC raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in NIKE by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.