NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Price Target Lowered to $70.00 at Morgan Stanley

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $72.00 to $70.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the footwear maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on NKE. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $92.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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. According to MarketBeat, NIKE currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Down 5.4 %

NIKE stock opened at $68.02 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22. NIKE has a one year low of $65.17 and a one year high of $98.04.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. NIKE’s revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that NIKE will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.38%.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NIKE

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NIKE in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,126,288,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in NIKE by 32.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in NIKE by 6,029.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709,985 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in NIKE by 1,209,638.7% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,508,394 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $575,342,000 after purchasing an additional 6,507,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in NIKE by 18.1% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. 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.