NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Price Target Cut to $66.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $67.00 to $66.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the footwear maker’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 3.34% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on NKE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $75.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NKE stock traded down $3.58 on Friday, reaching $68.28. The stock had a trading volume of 41,814,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,367,750. NIKE has a 12 month low of $65.25 and a 12 month high of $101.92. 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 $100.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $74.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.56.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NIKE

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in NIKE by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in NIKE by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,915,110,000 after purchasing an additional 347,178 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in NIKE by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,545,937 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,857,389,000 after buying an additional 2,288,627 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of NIKE by 18.1% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.