NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Stock Price Up 0.7% – Should You Buy?

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)’s stock price traded up 0.7% on Monday . The company traded as high as $63.99 and last traded at $63.75. 4,805,957 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 12,899,907 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. DA Davidson raised shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays decreased 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. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Up 0.7 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $74.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.92. 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 market cap of $94.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Research analysts forecast that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 53.16%.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NIKE

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NIKE by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,915,110,000 after acquiring an additional 347,178 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,545,937 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,857,389,000 after acquiring an additional 2,288,627 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in NIKE by 18.1% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 3,121,929 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Company Profile

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.