Traders Purchase High Volume of NIKE Call Options (NYSE:NKE)

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 148,154 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 43% compared to the typical daily volume of 103,393 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NIKE

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NKE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,126,288,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,541,246,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in NIKE by 1,302.7% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,602,101 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $196,901,000 after buying an additional 2,416,601 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on NKE shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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 note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.38.

NIKE Trading Up 0.2 %

NKE stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $65.87. 13,009,242 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,460,949. NIKE has a 1-year low of $64.95 and a 1-year high of $98.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.42 billion, a PE ratio of 20.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.13.

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

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.16%.

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.