NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Key Points

• NIKE's stock rating has been upgraded from a "strong sell" to a "hold" by Zacks Research, following positive analyst assessments from various firms.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target for NIKE from $64 to $93, while the consensus target price for the stock is now $78.22.
• NIKE recently reported quarterly earnings, posting $11.10 billion in revenue, exceeding analyst expectations, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 11.9%.

Zacks Research upgraded shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial lowered their price target on NIKE from $82.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of NIKE from $97.00 to $75.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NIKE from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of NIKE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Argus raised NIKE to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.22.

NIKE Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE NKE traded down $0.58 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $77.34. The stock had a trading volume of 14,203,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,739,668. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $114.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.27. The business's fifty day moving average price is $74.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.93. NIKE has a 52-week low of $52.28 and a 52-week high of $90.62.

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

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. NIKE's dividend payout ratio is presently 74.07%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 110,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.29, for a total value of $7,951,900.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 842,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,894,276.69. This represents a 11.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NIKE

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NKE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NIKE by 0.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,823,785 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $8,086,042,000 after purchasing an additional 672,705 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in NIKE by 2.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,154,159 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $4,225,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590,603 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in NIKE by 24.9% in the first 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. boosted its holdings in NIKE by 344.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,698,835 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $1,694,842,000 after purchasing an additional 20,688,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in NIKE by 3.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,988,207 shares of the footwear maker's stock valued at $1,332,331,000 after purchasing an additional 620,214 shares during the last quarter. 64.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.