NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays

Barclays downgraded shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. Barclays currently has $80.00 price target on the footwear maker’s stock, down from their prior price target of $109.00.

NKE has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America raised shares of NIKE from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on NIKE from $134.00 to $120.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $79.00 price objective (down from $114.00) on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on NIKE from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $98.96.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NKE opened at $75.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $113.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. NIKE has a 12 month low of $74.55 and a 12 month high of $123.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $93.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.85.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The footwear maker reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.16. NIKE had a return on equity of 42.87% and a net margin of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $12.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that NIKE will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is 39.68%.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 168,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.14, for a total transaction of $15,682,726.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,648,662.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 168,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.14, for a total value of $15,682,726.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,102,090 shares in the company, valued at $102,648,662.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Johanna Nielsen sold 282 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.64, for a total value of $26,406.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,357.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 213,660 shares of company stock valued at $19,946,333 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% 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 company. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in NIKE during the third quarter worth $432,000. United Services Automobile Association increased its position in shares of NIKE by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 33,626 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,165 shares during the last quarter. Kidder Stephen W raised its holdings in NIKE by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kidder Stephen W now owns 36,552 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $3,495,000 after buying an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Gateway Advisory LLC acquired a new position in NIKE in the third quarter valued at about $583,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its stake in NIKE by 80.9% during the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 1,066,172 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $101,969,000 after buying an additional 476,837 shares during the period. 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.