NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Given Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

NIKE (NYSE:NKE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $84.00 price objective on the footwear maker’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 17.07% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on NKE. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NIKE from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on NIKE from $80.00 to $74.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. DA Davidson raised shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

NIKE Trading Down 3.8 %

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

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a return on equity of 36.99% and a net margin of 9.98%. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that NIKE will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of NIKE by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862,021 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in NIKE by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,442,145 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,425,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,093 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NIKE by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,029,380 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,204,451,000 after buying an additional 251,411 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in NIKE by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in NIKE by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,303,182 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $910,801,000 after buying an additional 583,207 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.