NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $64.96, but opened at $56.37. NIKE shares last traded at $56.96, with a volume of 15,738,890 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. DA Davidson upgraded shares of NIKE to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NIKE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $85.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.75, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.26. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The company had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. NIKE’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that NIKE, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. NIKE’s payout ratio is 53.16%.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in NIKE by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $5,140,796,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,021 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in NIKE by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,340,736 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $2,749,903,000 after purchasing an additional 8,898,591 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NIKE by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,376,558 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,915,110,000 after buying an additional 347,178 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $1,857,389,000 after buying an additional 2,288,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in NIKE by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,367,993 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $1,541,246,000 after buying an additional 3,121,929 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.