Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on NIKE (NYSE:NKE)

NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 148,154 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 43% compared to the average volume of 103,393 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John W. Rogers, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of NIKE stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $76.65 per share, with a total value of $191,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,636,989.95. This trade represents a 7.84 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Mark G. Parker sold 169,732 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.83, for a total value of $12,361,581.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 896,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,301,708.56. This trade represents a 15.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Caitlin John LLC raised its holdings in shares of NIKE by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 371 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in NIKE during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in NIKE in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its position in NIKE by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 400 shares of the footwear maker’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. 64.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NKE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of NIKE in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of NIKE from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of NIKE from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of NIKE from $79.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, China Renaissance assumed coverage on NIKE in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NIKE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.38.

NIKE Stock Performance

NKE stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Thursday, reaching $65.87. The company had a trading volume of 13,009,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,460,949. The company has a market cap of $97.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.02. NIKE has a twelve month low of $64.95 and a twelve month high of $98.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.13.

NIKE (NYSE:NKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The footwear maker reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $11.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NIKE will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NIKE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. NIKE’s payout ratio is presently 53.16%.

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.