NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Stock Price Down 3.4% After Analyst Downgrade

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was down 3.4% on Monday after Williams Trading lowered their price target on the stock from $93.00 to $73.00. Williams Trading currently has a buy rating on the stock. NIKE traded as low as $53.95 and last traded at $53.87. Approximately 3,527,371 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 18,148,096 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.76.

NKE has been the subject of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on NIKE from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. DA Davidson raised NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Berenberg Bank began coverage on NIKE in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sixteen equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.41.

Insider Activity 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 shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan purchased 8,600 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $502,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. The trade was a 36.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NIKE

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in NIKE by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,749,903,000 after buying an additional 8,898,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NIKE by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,915,110,000 after purchasing an additional 347,178 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of NIKE by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,545,937 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,857,389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288,627 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,541,246,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,126,288,000. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.55. The stock has a market cap of $83.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $11.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. NIKE’s payout ratio is 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.