NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Stock Price Down 3.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) fell 3.9% during trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company downgraded the stock from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating. Wells Fargo & Company now has a $45.00 price target on the stock. NIKE traded as low as $42.39 and last traded at $42.4160. 23,854,685 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 23% from the average session volume of 19,361,193 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.14.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on NKE. Barclays reduced their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price objective (down from $60.00) on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday, April 10th. Needham & Company LLC cut NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore cut their price objective on NIKE from $69.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, HSBC cut NIKE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $48.00 in a report on Monday, April 13th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NIKE news, Director Timothy D. Cook bought 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $42.43 per share, for a total transaction of $1,060,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 130,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,536,266.40. This represents a 23.70% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 11,781 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $42.44 per share, with a total value of $499,985.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 55,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,337,340.56. This represents a 27.21% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders purchased a total of 64,441 shares of company stock valued at $2,734,204 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 4.2% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,719 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 8.0% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,113 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 1.9% in the third quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 8,514 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of NIKE by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,978 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NIKE Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $62.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.14.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The footwear maker reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $11.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.23 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 16.41% and a net margin of 4.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 108.61%.

NIKE Company Profile

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).