New York, January 5, 2026, 10:36 EST
- Nike shares rose about 3% in Monday morning trading.
- CEO Elliott Hill and Apple CEO Tim Cook have recently bought Nike stock in open-market purchases, regulatory filings show.
- Investors are watching whether insider buying signals confidence in Nike’s turnaround plan.
Nike shares rose about 2.7% to $65.00 in morning trading on Monday, extending a recent rebound that has drawn fresh attention to insider buying at the sportswear company.
The moves matter because insider purchases — executives and directors buying with their own money — are closely watched as a barometer of confidence, especially when a stock has been under pressure.
Nike is in the early stretch of a turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill, who returned to the company to replace John Donahoe and took over on Oct. 14, 2024. Nike has been fighting intensifying competition, including from Roger Federer-backed On and Deckers’ Hoka, as shoppers and retailers chase newer silhouettes and faster product cycles.
A Form 4 filing — the disclosure U.S. corporate insiders must file after trading company stock — showed Hill bought 16,388 Nike Class B shares on Dec. 29 at a weighted average price of $61.10. The filing showed he held 241,587 shares after the purchase.
A separate Form 4 showed Cook, who sits on Nike’s board, bought 50,000 Class B shares on Dec. 22 at $58.97, lifting his holdings to 105,480 shares.
Nike director Robert Holmes Swan also disclosed an open-market purchase of 8,691 Class B shares on Dec. 22 at $57.54, leaving him with 43,293 shares held directly, plus 1,580 shares held through a family trust, the filing showed.
“For Tim Cook to be an inside buyer is a modest positive,” said David Sowerby, a portfolio manager at Ancora Advisors. Analysts at the time pointed to Cook’s trade as an unusually large open-market buy for a Nike director, even as the company grappled with weaker margins and sluggish sales in China following its Dec. 18 results. Reuters
Investors often treat insider buys as a confidence signal, but they can also reflect personal portfolio decisions and do not guarantee a shift in business trends.
The risk for bulls is that Nike’s turnaround takes longer than expected, with pressure persisting in China and margins staying squeezed as the company works to refresh product and reclaim share from faster-growing rivals.
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