NIKE’s (NKE) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Berenberg Bank

NIKE (NYSE:NKE)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by Berenberg Bank in a report released on Friday,MarketScreener Latest Ratings reports. They currently have a $70.00 target price on the footwear maker’s stock. Berenberg Bank’s price objective points to a potential upside of 19.06% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on NKE. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $85.00 price target on shares of NIKE and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of NIKE in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 price target on NIKE and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NIKE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.14.

NIKE Price Performance

NIKE stock traded down $6.84 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.80. The company had a trading volume of 88,746,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,258,250. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.45. NIKE has a 12-month low of $52.28 and a 12-month high of $82.44. The company has a market capitalization of $86.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.41.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 18th. The footwear maker reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.16. NIKE had a return on equity of 21.16% and a net margin of 6.23%.The business had revenue of $12.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, EVP Treasure Heinle sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.27, for a total value of $306,461.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 29,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,095,052.92. The trade was a 12.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.80, for a total value of $5,577,854.40. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 647,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,965,452. This represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NKE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in NIKE by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 115,291,199 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $8,039,255,000 after buying an additional 1,467,414 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 2.8% in 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. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 42,239,013 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,945,326,000 after acquiring an additional 286,615 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,561,334 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $875,902,000 after acquiring an additional 404,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in NIKE by 42.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,838,528 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $825,501,000 after purchasing an additional 3,518,666 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Key NIKE News

Here are the key news stories impacting NIKE this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Beat on top and bottom lines — NIKE reported $12.4B in revenue and $0.53 EPS, topping expectations and showing resilience in topline demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: North America and running category strength — North America sales rose ~9% and running product growth remained strong, supporting the turnaround narrative. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wholesale improvement offsets some DTC weakness — wholesale grew (helping partner channels) even as Nike Direct sales fell, leaving a mixed channel picture. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts split between maintaining buys and trimming targets — several firms kept buy ratings but lowered price targets, reflecting diverging views on recovery timing. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance disappointed — management warned revenue will likely decline low-single-digits next quarter and sees further gross-margin compression, which spooked investors. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Tariff headwinds are large and ongoing — NIKE cited significant tariff-related margin pressure (reports cite up to ~$1.5B full-year impact), pressuring profitability. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: China sales slump — Greater China revenue fell strongly (mid-to-high teens), and Nike Direct China was hit much harder, raising concerns about cultural relevance and recovery time. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Margin deterioration and promotional pressure — gross margin declined ~300 bps to ~40.6% on discounting and tariffs, and management expects margins to remain under pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: heavy selloff — despite beats, investors sold into the report given the outlook and headwinds, driving a sharp decline in the stock. Read More.

About NIKE

Nike, Inc (NYSE: NKE) is a global designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman and renamed Nike in 1971, the company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. Nike develops and commercializes products across performance and lifestyle categories for sports including running, basketball, soccer and training, and is known for signature technologies and design-driven product lines.

The company markets products under several primary brands, including Nike, Jordan and Converse, and sells through a combination of wholesale relationships, branded retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels such as company-operated stores and digital platforms (e.g., Nike.com and mobile apps).