Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on NIKE (NYSE:NKE)

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 149,261 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 59% compared to the typical daily volume of 94,115 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was acquired 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 $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NIKE

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 552.5% during the fourth quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 27,443 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,077,000 after acquiring an additional 23,237 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in NIKE by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,935 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 16,664 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 30,162 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,145,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,433 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NKE. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of NIKE from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group lowered shares of NIKE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $93.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.96.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NKE stock opened at $70.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $104.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE has a 1-year low of $70.32 and a 1-year high of $107.43. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.96.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.11 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NIKE will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.38%.

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.