UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Stock Price

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) had its target price reduced by analysts at UBS Group from $62.00 to $58.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the footwear maker’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.29% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on NKE. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on NIKE from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of NIKE in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Bank of America lowered their target price on NIKE from $84.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded NIKE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.45.

NIKE Price Performance

NKE traded down $0.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $53.07. 5,043,491 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,626,062. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $78.56 billion, a PE ratio of 31.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.12. NIKE has a 1 year low of $52.28 and a 1 year high of $80.17.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The footwear maker reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $12.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.19 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 18.43% and a net margin of 5.43%.The company’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NIKE will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at NIKE

In other NIKE news, CEO Elliott Hill bought 16,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $61.10 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,306.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 241,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,760,965.70. This represents a 7.28% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 8,691 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $57.54 per share, with a total value of $500,080.14. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 43,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,491,079.22. The trade was a 25.12% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired a total of 75,079 shares of company stock valued at $4,449,887 in the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,217 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Spirepoint Private Client LLC lifted its stake in NIKE by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 36,140 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,520,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC boosted its holdings in NIKE by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,719 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management Europe Ltd boosted its holdings in NIKE by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Europe Ltd now owns 997 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

About NIKE

Nike, Inc (NYSE: NKE) is a global designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories. Founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman and renamed Nike in 1971, the company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. Nike develops and commercializes products across performance and lifestyle categories for sports including running, basketball, soccer and training, and is known for signature technologies and design-driven product lines.

The company markets products under several primary brands, including Nike, Jordan and Converse, and sells through a combination of wholesale relationships, branded retail stores and direct-to-consumer channels such as company-operated stores and digital platforms (e.g., Nike.com and mobile apps).