The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Price Target to $72.00

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Free Report) had its target price trimmed by The Goldman Sachs Group from $88.00 to $72.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the footwear maker's stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on NIKE from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of NIKE from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup lowered NIKE from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $72.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on NIKE from $73.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.81.

NIKE Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of NIKE stock traded down $1.79 on Tuesday, hitting $56.69. 4,007,260 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,310,175. NIKE has a 52 week low of $52.28 and a 52 week high of $98.04. The company has a market cap of $83.85 billion, a PE ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.15. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $67.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that NIKE will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NIKE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. NIKE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NIKE

In other NIKE news, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 896,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,301,708.56. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert Holmes Swan purchased 8,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.46 per share, with a total value of $502,756.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,869,726.18. The trade was a 36.78 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NIKE

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NKE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of NIKE by 32.4% during 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 buying an additional 8,898,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NIKE by 1.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 347,178 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,288,627 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in NIKE during the 4th quarter valued at $1,126,288,000. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by 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.