NIKE Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NKE)

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 130,359 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 32% compared to the average volume of 99,107 call options.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 6,029.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after buying an additional 6,709,985 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in NIKE by 1,209,638.7% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $575,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507,856 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 358.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $228,165,000 after buying an additional 2,357,745 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in NIKE by 3.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of NIKE during the third quarter worth about $148,635,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NIKE Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $78.28 on Friday. NIKE has a 12-month low of $70.32 and a 12-month high of $107.43. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $115.79 billion, a PE ratio of 24.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.55 and its 200-day moving average is $77.95.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that NIKE will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This is an increase from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NKE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lowered their price objective on NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.96.

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.