Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Stock Price

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) had its price target hoisted by Citigroup from $57.00 to $68.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the footwear maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on NKE. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on NIKE from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Williams Trading cut their price target on NIKE from $93.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NIKE from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of NIKE in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.33.

NIKE Price Performance

NYSE NKE opened at $72.09 on Friday. NIKE has a one year low of $52.28 and a one year high of $90.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $60.63 and a 200 day moving average of $67.60. The company has a market capitalization of $106.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.38, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 2.19.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 26th. The footwear maker reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.02. NIKE had a return on equity of 23.00% and a net margin of 6.95%. The company had revenue of $11.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. NIKE’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 53.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other news, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 8,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $58.46 per share, for a total transaction of $502,756.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares in the company, valued at $1,869,726.18. The trade was a 36.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NIKE

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in NIKE by 4.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,151,080 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $7,182,831,000 after buying an additional 4,957,494 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in NIKE by 24.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 45,383,916 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,880,971,000 after buying an additional 9,043,180 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in NIKE by 344.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,698,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,694,842,000 after buying an additional 20,688,013 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NIKE by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,915,110,000 after acquiring an additional 347,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in NIKE by 10.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

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.