NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) Downgraded to Market Perform Rating by Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer downgraded shares of NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of NICE in a report on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of NICE in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays cut their price target on NICE from $320.00 to $286.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of NICE in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on NICE from $330.00 to $334.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.57.

NICE Stock Performance

NICE traded down $9.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $172.62. 1,165,943 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 525,258. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 2.45. NICE has a 1 year low of $151.52 and a 1 year high of $270.73.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The technology company reported $2.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.06. NICE had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The company had revenue of $664.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $664.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that NICE will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NICE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vulcan Value Partners LLC lifted its stake in NICE by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 1,188,371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,168,000 after purchasing an additional 394,715 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position 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 worth $273,642,000 after buying an additional 279,375 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 268,677 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in NICE during the second quarter worth approximately $44,076,000. Finally, Black Creek Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 worth $233,325,000 after buying an additional 250,334 shares in the last quarter. 63.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About NICE

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.