Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) was downgraded by stock analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Friday, Stock Ratings Network.com reports. They currently have a $37.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $41.00. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s price objective points to a potential upside of 3.73% from the stock’s previous close.
The analysts wrote, “We downgrade FL to Neutral. We are incrementally less bullish on FL, as we think attractive valuation and basketball momentum are no longer enough reason to buy the stock. FL has become a share donor to not only vendors’ direct operations, particularly at Nike, but more recently to non-athletic retailers. This, combined with slowing sales across many athletic brands, lessens our conviction in a SSS pickup, which we see as a necessary catalyst for the stock to re-rate. Since added to the Buy List on 11/27/12, FL is +3.5% vs. the S&P 500 +21.3%. TTM, FL is +3.0% vs. the S&P 500 +20.7%. Our call underperformed because the multiple failed to re-rate, as detailed below.”
Shares of Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) opened at 35.67 on Friday. Foot Locker has a 52 week low of $31.07 and a 52 week high of $37.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $35.99. The company has a market cap of $5.378 billion and a P/E ratio of 13.47.
Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Deutsche Bank raised their price target on shares of Foot Locker from $39.00 to $41.00 in a research note to investors on Thursday, August 1st. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. Separately, analysts at Raymond James upgraded shares of Foot Locker from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note to investors on Monday, June 10th. Finally, analysts at Thomson Reuters/Verus upgraded shares of Foot Locker from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note to investors on Monday, June 3rd.
Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.43.
In other Foot Locker news, SVP Peter Brown sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock on the open market in a transaction that occured on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $490,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,035 shares in the company. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.
Foot Locker, Inc is a global retailer of athletic shoes and apparel, operating 3,369 primarily mall-based stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand as of January 28, 2012.
