Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for NIKE (NYSE:NKE)

NIKE (NYSE:NKE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $84.00 target price on the footwear maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 17.07% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on NKE. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Thursday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on NIKE from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of NIKE from $78.00 to $73.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NIKE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.62.

NIKE Trading Down 3.8 %

NYSE NKE opened at $71.75 on Friday. NIKE has a 1 year low of $70.32 and a 1 year high of $107.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $106.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.32 and a 200 day moving average of $78.05.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The company’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that NIKE will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was bought 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 approximately $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NIKE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NKE. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Caitlin John LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 117.0% in the 4th quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of NIKE in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in NIKE during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.