NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Trading 1% Higher Following Dividend Announcement

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)’s stock price shot up 1% on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $57.03 and last traded at $56.98. 2,794,066 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 14,452,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.40.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on NKE shares. Cfra Research raised shares of NIKE to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Dbs Bank upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on NIKE from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.15.

NIKE Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $86.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22.

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

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 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 owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan purchased 8,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $502,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,869,726.18. This represents a 36.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NIKE

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of NIKE by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of NIKE by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,915,110,000 after buying an additional 347,178 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,545,937 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,857,389,000 after acquiring an additional 2,288,627 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,988,207 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,332,331,000 after acquiring an additional 620,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,126,288,000. Institutional investors 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.