NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Trading Down 2.4% – Time to Sell?

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)’s share price traded down 2.4% on Friday . The company traded as low as $63.88 and last traded at $64.23. 5,264,568 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 12,441,027 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NKE. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on NIKE from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.38.

NIKE Trading Down 3.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $93.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.05.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. NIKE’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. NIKE’s payout ratio is 53.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,126,288,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 valued at $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew 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 worth $516,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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 worth $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $196,901,000 after buying an additional 2,416,601 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

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.