NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Lowered to Neutral Rating by Citigroup

Citigroup lowered shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $72.00 price objective on the footwear maker’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $102.00.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on NKE. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $105.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial decreased their price target on NIKE from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DA Davidson raised NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.62.

NIKE Stock Performance

NIKE stock opened at $68.69 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $75.32 and a 200-day moving average of $78.05. The company has a market capitalization of $101.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.01. NIKE has a 1 year low of $68.62 and a 1 year high of $107.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released 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 net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The firm had revenue of $12.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that NIKE will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.38%.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NIKE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in NIKE by 6,029.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,821,270 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $516,166,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709,985 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in NIKE by 1,209,638.7% in 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. 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 period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in NIKE by 358.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,015,267 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $228,165,000 after buying an additional 2,357,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at $156,438,000. 64.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.