Williams Trading Downgrades NIKE (NYSE:NKE) to Sell

NIKE (NYSE:NKE – Get Rating) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Williams Trading from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Sunday, The Fly reports.

NKE has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on NIKE from $134.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on NIKE from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on NIKE from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 17th. StockNews.com started coverage on NIKE in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Redburn Partners started coverage on NIKE in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

NIKE Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $110.18 on Friday. NIKE has a 1 year low of $82.22 and a 1 year high of $131.31. The firm has a market cap of $169.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.75, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.59.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 21st. The footwear maker reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.24. NIKE had a return on equity of 35.98% and a net margin of 10.82%. The business had revenue of $12.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NIKE will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Johanna Nielsen sold 282 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.03, for a total value of $35,540.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,518 shares in the company, valued at $443,373.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Johanna Nielsen sold 282 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.03, for a total value of $35,540.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,518 shares in the company, valued at $443,373.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 110,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.86, for a total transaction of $13,294,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,355,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,870,569.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 220,282 shares of company stock worth $26,447,640. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in NIKE by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,615,256 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $9,028,100,000 after purchasing an additional 984,780 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 55,245,370 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $4,608,491,000 after buying an additional 682,827 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,720,119 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $3,594,561,000 after buying an additional 6,410,744 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 0.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,478,963 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,750,643,000 after buying an additional 116,877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 11.8% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,087,757 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,340,922,000 after buying an additional 2,011,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.20% of the company’s stock.

NIKE Company Profile

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NIKE, Inc engages in the design, development, marketing, and sale of athletic footwear, apparel, accessories, equipment, and services. It operates through the following segments: North America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Greater China, Asia Pacific & Latin America, Global Brand Divisions, Converse, and Corporate.