NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Upgraded at Dbs Bank

Dbs Bank upgraded shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

NKE has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird reduced 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. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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. DA Davidson raised shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.77.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NKE stock opened at $78.68 on Wednesday. NIKE has a twelve month low of $68.62 and a twelve month high of $102.49. The company has a market capitalization of $116.38 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.01. 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 $74.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.21.

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

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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 bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 worth $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position 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 worth $2,749,903,000 after buying an additional 8,898,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,915,110,000 after buying an additional 347,178 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,545,937 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,857,389,000 after buying an additional 2,288,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,541,246,000 after acquiring an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.