NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Argus

Argus upgraded shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $85.00 target price on the footwear maker's stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on NIKE from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of NIKE from $57.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $66.00 to $65.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NIKE from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.19.

NIKE Stock Performance

NIKE stock traded up $2.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $73.38. 27,492,625 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,460,596. NIKE has a fifty-two week low of $52.28 and a fifty-two week high of $90.62. The stock has a market cap of $108.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The footwear maker reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.02. NIKE had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 23.33%. The business had revenue of $11.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. NIKE's quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. NIKE's payout ratio is currently 53.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In related news, Director Robert Holmes Swan bought 8,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $502,756.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. This trade represents a 36.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NIKE

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in NIKE by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,151,080 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $7,182,831,000 after purchasing an additional 4,957,494 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of NIKE by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 45,383,916 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $2,880,971,000 after purchasing an additional 9,043,180 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of NIKE by 344.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,698,835 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $1,694,842,000 after buying an additional 20,688,013 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NIKE by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $1,915,110,000 after buying an additional 347,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in NIKE by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,545,937 shares of the footwear maker's stock worth $1,857,389,000 after buying an additional 2,288,627 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.25% of the company's stock.

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.