China Renaissance Begins Coverage on NIKE (NYSE:NKE)

Equities researchers at China Renaissance started coverage on shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “hold” rating on the footwear maker’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on NKE. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on NIKE from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $75.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on NIKE from $74.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded NIKE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.54.

NIKE Price Performance

NIKE stock opened at $73.28 on Wednesday. NIKE has a 1 year low of $68.62 and a 1 year high of $101.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $74.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.64. The company has a market cap of $108.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The footwear maker reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.15. NIKE had a net margin of 9.98% and a return on equity of 36.99%. The business had revenue of $12.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that NIKE will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $76.65 per share, for a total transaction of $191,625.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,636,989.95. The trade was a 7.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total transaction of $12,361,581.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. The trade was a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NKE. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at $642,000. Cacti Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,987,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in shares of NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,384,000. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its position in NIKE by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 25,835 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 6,124 shares during the period. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in NIKE by 5,745.9% during the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 8,652 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 8,504 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.