NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $85.00. The stock had previously closed at $80.98, but opened at $87.87. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. NIKE shares last traded at $87.35, with a volume of 8,438,793 shares.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Daiwa America cut shares of NIKE from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Williams Trading upgraded NIKE from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Wedbush cut their target price on NIKE from $115.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on NIKE from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $113.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 110,000 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.97, for a total transaction of $8,026,700.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,419,507.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 110,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.97, for a total value of $8,026,700.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,102,090 shares in the company, valued at $80,419,507.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 52,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.00, for a total transaction of $4,093,986.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,031,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,435,628. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cim LLC bought a new stake in NIKE in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,275,000. TKG Advisors LLC bought a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at $1,012,000. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new position in NIKE during the fourth quarter worth about $182,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 113,299 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $12,301,000 after acquiring an additional 24,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in NIKE by 86.0% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,957 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 9,689 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $78.11 and its 200-day moving average is $87.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market cap of $130.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The footwear maker reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $12.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.86 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 42.63% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 39.68%.

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.