Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) Stock Price

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) had its price objective trimmed by Jefferies Financial Group from $230.00 to $215.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of NICE in a report on Friday. Northland Securities cut their price objective on shares of NICE from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of NICE in a report on Friday, August 16th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of NICE in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of NICE in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NICE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.57.

NICE Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NICE opened at $172.62 on Friday. NICE has a twelve month low of $151.52 and a twelve month high of $270.73. The company has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $172.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.72.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The technology company reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.06. NICE had a return on equity of 15.48% and a net margin of 16.11%. The business had revenue of $664.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $664.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NICE will post 8.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NICE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vulcan Value Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of NICE by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 1,188,371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,168,000 after buying an additional 394,715 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in NICE by 21.6% during the third quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,575,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $273,642,000 after buying an additional 279,375 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in NICE by 63.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 694,050 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $119,317,000 after purchasing an additional 268,677 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of NICE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,076,000. Finally, Black Creek Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NICE by 22.6% during the second quarter. Black Creek Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,356,775 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $233,325,000 after purchasing an additional 250,334 shares during the last quarter. 63.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NICE Company Profile

NICE Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud platforms for AI-driven digital business solutions worldwide. It offers CXone, a cloud native open platform; Enlighten, an AI engine for the customer engagement market; and smart self service enable organizations to address consumers' needs; and journey orchestration solutions that empower organizations to connect and route customers to deal with the customer's request, and connects them using real time AI-based routing.