NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Price Target Raised to $70.00

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $64.00 to $70.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the footwear maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on NKE. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on NIKE from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of NIKE in a research report on Monday, August 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $62.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on NIKE from $72.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded NIKE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.46.

NIKE Stock Performance

Shares of NKE stock opened at $69.32 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $102.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.09, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $75.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.38. NIKE has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $90.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The footwear maker reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $11.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 23.33% and a net margin of 6.95%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. NIKE’s payout ratio is currently 74.07%.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 86,078 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.93, for a total transaction of $6,535,902.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 744,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,566,938.84. This represents a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 14,176 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its position 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 period. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. now owns 2,390 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in NIKE by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westmount Partners LLC raised its holdings in NIKE by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Westmount Partners LLC now owns 5,165 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.25% of the company’s stock.

About NIKE

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.