Stocks / NKE
What If You Had Invested in Nike 10 Years Ago?
NIKE, Inc. (NKE) with real monthly prices, dividends reinvested, through November 2026.
NKE $38.59 ▼ -2.45% last close, Nov 06, 2026
If you had invested $1,000 in NKE in November 2016, today it would be worth
$891
Same $1,000 in the S&P 500 (SPY): $3,907
If you had put $500 a month into NKE since November 2016, your $60,500 would be worth today
$32,083
Same plan in the S&P 500 (SPY): $129,289
More options in the What If calculator.
NKE live price chart
NKE returns by period
| Period | Total return | Per year | $1,000 became | SPY per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | -38.3% | -38.3% | $617 | +8.8% |
| 3 years | -62.5% | -27.9% | $375 | +18.7% |
| 5 years | -75.0% | -24.2% | $250 | +11.5% |
| 10 years | -10.9% | -1.1% | $891 | +14.6% |
| 20 years | +314.0% | +7.4% | $4,140 | +10.6% |
| Since 1985 | +39765.7% | +15.4% | $398,657 | — |
NKE year by year
Best full year: 1989 (+103.9%). Worst: 1993 (-44.2%).
| Year | NKE | SPY | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | -37.8% | +8.7% | |
| 2025 | -13.8% | +17.7% | |
| 2024 | -29.1% | +24.9% | Sales fell, the turnaround stalled and Nike replaced its CEO. The stock lost about 29%. |
| 2023 | -6.0% | +26.2% | |
| 2022 | -29.0% | -18.2% | Supply chain snarls, a glut of inventory and China's lockdowns sent Nike down about 29%. |
| 2021 | +18.7% | +28.7% | |
| 2020 | +41.0% | +18.3% | |
| 2019 | +38.1% | +31.2% | |
| 2018 | +19.9% | -4.6% | |
| 2017 | +24.7% | +21.7% | |
| 2016 | -17.7% | +12.0% | |
| 2015 | +31.4% | +1.2% | |
| 2014 | +23.8% | +13.5% | |
| 2013 | +54.5% | +32.3% | |
| 2012 | +8.7% | +16.0% | |
| 2011 | +14.5% | +1.9% | |
| 2010 | +31.2% | +15.1% | |
| 2009 | +32.0% | +26.4% | |
| 2008 | -19.4% | -36.8% | |
| 2007 | +31.3% | +5.1% |
NKE: all at once or every month?
Take $12,000: all of it on day one, or $1,000 a month for a year. Across every starting month since 1985 (491 of them), the lump sum was ahead after 12 months in 332 (68%). For most of its history Nike rewarded investing at once. The slide since 2021 changed that: every start month in 2023 and 2024 favored monthly buying. The best case for monthly investing was a start in December 2021, when it finished the year 44% ahead.
Worst drop
NKE's worst fall in this history was -77.1%, a near wipe-out, from November 2021 to September 2026. It is still below that high today, 5.0 years later. $1,000 invested at that peak shrank to about $229 at the low.
Nike's late-2021 peak came after a pandemic boom in online sales. Since then it has faced excess inventory, weak sales in China, a costly retreat from shoe retailers and rising competition from On and Hoka. The slide has lasted years and is the deepest in Nike's history in this data.
Nike dividends
NKE paid $1.64 per share over the last 12 months, in March, June, September and December. At $38.59 that is 4.25%, a high yield, so a large part of the return arrives as cash. From 2020 to 2025 the yearly payout grew +9.8% a year, well ahead of inflation. The yearly total did not fall once in the last ten years. Amounts are adjusted for splits.
| Year | Dividends / share | Change | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $1.61 | +6.6% | 2.53% |
| 2024 | $1.51 | +8.6% | 2.00% |
| 2023 | $1.39 | +10.8% | 1.28% |
| 2022 | $1.26 | +11.1% | 1.07% |
| 2021 | $1.13 | +11.9% | 0.68% |
| 2020 | $1.01 | +11.6% | 0.71% |
| 2019 | $0.91 | +10.4% | 0.89% |
| 2018 | $0.82 | +10.8% | 1.11% |
| 2017 | $0.74 | +12.1% | 1.18% |
| 2016 | $0.66 | +13.8% | 1.30% |
Yield = each year’s dividends divided by the price at the end of the year.
NKE dividend history: last 12 payments
| Ex-dividend date | Amount | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 01, 2026 | $0.4100 | +0.0% |
| Jun 01, 2026 | $0.4100 | +0.0% |
| Mar 02, 2026 | $0.4100 | +0.0% |
| Dec 01, 2025 | $0.4100 | +2.5% |
| Sep 02, 2025 | $0.4000 | +0.0% |
| Jun 02, 2025 | $0.4000 | +0.0% |
| Mar 03, 2025 | $0.4000 | +0.0% |
| Dec 02, 2024 | $0.4000 | +8.1% |
| Sep 03, 2024 | $0.3700 | +0.0% |
| Jun 03, 2024 | $0.3700 | +0.0% |
| Mar 01, 2024 | $0.3700 | +0.0% |
| Dec 01, 2023 | $0.3700 | — |
How much Nike do you need for $1,000 a month?
About $282,366, or roughly 7,317 shares at $38.59. That uses NKE's last 12 months of dividends ($1.64 a share, a 4.25% yield) and is before tax.
| Income | Invest | Shares | Paid as |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | $141,183 | 3,659 | $1,500/qtr |
| $1,000 | $282,366 | 7,317 | $3,000/qtr |
| $2,000 | $564,732 | 14,634 | $6,000/qtr |
NKE pays quarterly (ex-dividend in Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec), so “$1,000 a month” really arrives as about $3,000 four times a year.
The payout grew 9.8% a year over the last five years. If it kept that pace, about $111,123 invested today, with nothing added and nothing reinvested, would be paying $1,000 a month ten years from now. That is a projection, not a promise.
Check the price too. Not counting dividends, NKE went from $166.67 at the end of 2021 to $38.59 today (-76.8%). So part of what the dividends paid was given back in the share price.
These are mostly qualified dividends, taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% at the federal level depending on your income, plus any state tax. In an IRA or Roth IRA there is no tax on them along the way.
Want to build toward it with monthly buys? Try the dividend calculator with NKE's numbers filled in.
Stock splits
- October 1990: 2-for-1
- October 1995: 2-for-1
- October 1996: 2-for-1
- April 2007: 2-for-1
- December 2012: 2-for-1
- December 2015: 2-for-1
One share bought before 1990 is 64 shares today.
About Nike
| Company | NIKE, Inc. |
| Listed | December 1980 (IPO) |
| Sector | Consumer discretionary (footwear and apparel) |
| Dividend | Raised every year for more than 20 years |
Nike is the world's largest sportswear company. It started in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports, importing Japanese running shoes, and its Air Jordan line, launched with Michael Jordan in 1984, is still one of its biggest businesses.
For decades Nike was a steady compounder. It split its stock 2-for-1 six times between 1990 and 2015, so one share from before 1990 is now 64.
Since its 2021 peak the stock has lost most of its value. Nike pulled back from many shoe stores to sell more through its own website and app, a plan that gave up shelf space just as newer running brands such as On and Hoka were gaining ground. U.S. tariffs on goods made in Vietnam and China added another cost in 2025.
What went wrong
Under CEO John Donahoe from 2020, Nike cut ties with many shoe stores to push sales through its own website and shops. It worked during the pandemic, then backfired: retailers gave the freed-up shelf space to newer brands, while Nike leaned on old hits like the Air Force 1 and Dunk and lost ground in running shoes. Elliott Hill, a Nike veteran of three decades, returned as CEO in October 2024 to reverse course.
A lesson about quality stocks
Nike was a textbook buy-and-hold growth stock for decades. Its fall since 2021 shows that even a dominant brand can lose most of its market value without coming anywhere near bankruptcy, simply because growth slowed and a high valuation unwound.
Questions about NKE
Did NKE beat the S&P 500?
No. Over the last 20 years it trailed by 3.3 percentage points a year: +7.4% a year for NKE against +10.6% for SPY, dividends reinvested. It also fell harder at its worst (-77.1% against -50.8% for SPY over the same history).
Has Nike kept raising its dividend during the slump?
Yes. Nike has raised its dividend every year for more than two decades, including through the recent decline. With the share price down, the yield is now well above its long-run average.