NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Trading Down 1.1% – Here’s Why

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) shares fell 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $66.72 and last traded at $66.68. 4,591,829 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 12,408,980 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.39.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NKE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut shares of NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, China Renaissance began coverage on NIKE in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.38.

NIKE Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.31. The company has a market capitalization of $98.51 billion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position 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 worth $2,749,903,000 after buying an additional 8,898,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $1,915,110,000 after acquiring an additional 347,178 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in NIKE by 18.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.