NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Shares Down 1% on Analyst Downgrade

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)’s share price was down 1% during trading on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $64.00 to $56.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. NIKE traded as low as $57.29 and last traded at $58.01. Approximately 4,586,674 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 14,526,930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.59.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on NKE. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on NIKE from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a report on Monday, March 17th. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of NIKE in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Berenberg Bank began coverage on shares of NIKE in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. They set a “hold” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the 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 sale, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.46 per share, for a total transaction of $502,756.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 31,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in NIKE by 32.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 1.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 347,178 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,288,627 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in NIKE by 3.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 620,214 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,126,288,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 53.16%.

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.