NIKE (NYSE:NKE) Upgraded to “Buy” at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of NIKE (NYSE:NKE) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $113.00 target price on the footwear maker’s stock, up from their previous target price of $110.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer cut shares of NIKE from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $132.00 to $128.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of NIKE in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of NIKE from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $116.26.

NIKE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NKE opened at $92.00 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $98.96 and a 200-day moving average of $103.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.86 billion, a PE ratio of 27.06, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. NIKE has a 12 month low of $88.66 and a 12 month high of $128.68.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The footwear maker reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $12.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.28 billion. NIKE had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 39.41%. On average, equities research analysts predict that NIKE will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. NIKE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NKE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 139,649.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,813,307 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,967,325,000 after buying an additional 16,801,276 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at $1,315,097,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 87.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,135,431 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $1,860,395,000 after buying an additional 7,996,434 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of NIKE by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,609,613 shares of the footwear maker’s stock valued at $2,997,628,000 after buying an additional 7,143,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in shares of NIKE in the third quarter valued at $679,775,000. 64.25% of the stock is 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.