NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Now Covered by Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE) in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $84.00 price objective on the footwear maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on NKE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on NIKE from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on NIKE from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of NIKE from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a report on Friday, September 20th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NIKE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.86.

NIKE Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE NKE opened at $77.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.03. NIKE has a 1-year low of $70.75 and a 1-year high of $123.39. The business’s 50 day moving average is $80.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The footwear maker reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $11.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.64 billion. NIKE had a return on equity of 39.84% and a net margin of 10.60%. NIKE’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that NIKE will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This is a positive change from NIKE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. NIKE’s payout ratio is 42.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NKE. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NIKE by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,916,789 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $5,140,796,000 after acquiring an additional 1,862,021 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in NIKE by 5.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,442,145 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,425,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,093 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in NIKE by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,029,380 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,204,451,000 after acquiring an additional 251,411 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in NIKE by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,049,294 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $832,785,000 after purchasing an additional 571,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NIKE by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,303,182 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $910,801,000 after purchasing an additional 583,207 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.