NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation, twenty-two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.6129.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NKE shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $65.00 price target on shares of NIKE and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $67.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research note on Monday, January 12th.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other news, CEO Elliott Hill acquired 16,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $61.10 per share, with a total value of $1,001,306.80. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 241,587 shares in the company, valued at $14,760,965.70. The trade was a 7.28% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy D. Cook acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $58.97 per share, for a total transaction of $2,948,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 105,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,220,155.60. This trade represents a 90.12% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 75,079 shares of company stock worth $4,449,887. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NKE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at $829,956,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of NIKE by 3,129.9% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 9,091,426 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $645,855,000 after purchasing an additional 8,809,950 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P bought a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 2nd quarter valued at $621,525,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 49,069,951 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $3,126,246,000 after purchasing an additional 6,830,938 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in NIKE by 66.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,157,198 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $863,647,000 after purchasing an additional 4,840,114 shares in the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NIKE stock opened at $61.08 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.27. NIKE has a 12 month low of $52.28 and a 12 month high of $82.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The footwear maker reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.16. NIKE had a return on equity of 18.43% and a net margin of 5.43%.The firm had revenue of $12.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 96.47%.

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).