Zacks Research Upgrades NIKE (NYSE:NKE) to Hold

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on NKE. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NIKE from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of NIKE in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $120.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of NIKE in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Argus raised NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, nineteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.53.

NIKE Price Performance

NKE stock opened at $40.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.98. NIKE has a one year low of $38.86 and a one year high of $80.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $59.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.11.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The footwear maker reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.09. NIKE had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that NIKE will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NIKE news, insider Amy Montagne sold 4,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.05, for a total value of $204,657.35. Following the transaction, the insider owned 57,436 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,183.80. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Philip Mccartney sold 17,398 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.18, for a total transaction of $803,439.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 53,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,453,681.94. This represents a 24.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 26,142 shares of company stock worth $1,169,380 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NIKE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NKE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 116,993,541 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $7,453,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,702,342 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of NIKE by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,315,606 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,802,807,000 after buying an additional 1,275,494 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 49,069,951 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $3,126,246,000 after buying an additional 6,830,938 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in NIKE by 49,010.4% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 48,054,542 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $3,061,555,000 after buying an additional 47,956,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NIKE by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,442,879 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,677,251,000 after acquiring an additional 233,925 shares in the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).