NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE) in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $79.00 price objective on the footwear maker’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on NKE. Wedbush dropped their target price on NIKE from $115.00 to $97.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of NIKE from $112.00 to $109.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Daiwa America downgraded shares of NIKE from a moderate buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Piper Sandler reiterated a neutral rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $75.00 to $71.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $96.15.

NIKE Trading Up 6.8 %

Shares of NKE stock opened at $86.52 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.99. NIKE has a 52-week low of $70.75 and a 52-week high of $123.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 2.40.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The footwear maker reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $12.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.86 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 42.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts predict that NIKE will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is 39.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 110,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.97, for a total transaction of $8,026,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,102,090 shares in the company, valued at $80,419,507.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 110,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.97, for a total transaction of $8,026,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,419,507.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 2,941 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $77.02 per share, for a total transaction of $226,515.82. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,613,260.92. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Beta Wealth Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NIKE by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 4,501 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $489,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Kampmann Melissa S. boosted its holdings in NIKE by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Kampmann Melissa S. now owns 15,050 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,634,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in NIKE by 0.4% in the first quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 28,513 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,680,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Condor Capital Management raised its holdings in NIKE by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Condor Capital Management now owns 26,079 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,451,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its position in NIKE by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 2,610 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.