Sanford C. Bernstein Reiterates Buy Rating for NIKE (NYSE:NKE)

NIKE (NYSE:NKE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein in a research note issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener Latest Ratings reports. They currently have a $90.00 price target on the footwear maker’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective points to a potential upside of 20.66% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on NIKE from $77.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on NIKE from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $85.00 price objective on NIKE and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Cowen raised NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.57.

NIKE Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:NKE opened at $74.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.16 billion, a PE ratio of 38.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $74.71 and a 200-day moving average of $67.32. NIKE has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $84.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $11.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.96 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 21.16% and a net margin of 6.23%.The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Analysts predict that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.93, for a total transaction of $6,535,902.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 744,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,566,938.84. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NIKE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,823,785 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $8,086,042,000 after acquiring an additional 672,705 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,154,159 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $4,225,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,590,603 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 45,383,916 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,880,971,000 after acquiring an additional 9,043,180 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 344.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,698,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,694,842,000 after acquiring an additional 20,688,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 3.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,988,207 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,332,331,000 after purchasing an additional 620,214 shares in the last quarter. 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.