Analysts Expect NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) to Post $1.70 EPS

Analysts predict that NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE – Get Rating) will report earnings of $1.70 per share for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks reports. Five analysts have made estimates for NICE’s earnings, with estimates ranging from $1.68 to $1.74. NICE posted earnings per share of $1.54 during the same quarter last year, which indicates a positive year-over-year growth rate of 10.4%. The company is expected to issue its next quarterly earnings report before the market opens on Monday, January 1st.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that NICE will report full year earnings of $7.18 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $7.15 to $7.23. For the next financial year, analysts forecast that the firm will post earnings of $8.16 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $8.05 to $8.29. Zacks’ EPS calculations are an average based on a survey of research firms that that provide coverage for NICE.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 17th. The technology company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $515.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $495.66 million. NICE had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 11.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on NICE shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on NICE in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of NICE from $315.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 22nd. TheStreet lowered shares of NICE from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, March 7th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of NICE from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of NICE from $350.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.13.

NASDAQ:NICE opened at $194.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $215.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $255.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.81. NICE has a 1 year low of $188.03 and a 1 year high of $319.88.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Prospera Financial Services Inc bought a new position in NICE in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Private Capital Group LLC grew its position in NICE by 940.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Capital Group LLC now owns 156 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. NEXT Financial Group Inc increased its stake in NICE by 110.8% in the 4th quarter. NEXT Financial Group Inc now owns 215 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of NICE in the 4th quarter valued at about $72,000. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NICE during the 1st quarter valued at about $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.48% of the company’s stock.

NICE Company Profile (Get Rating)

NICE Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud platforms for AI-driven digital business solutions worldwide. It offers CXone, a cloud native open platform that supports contact centers ranging from small single sites to distributed remote agents and enterprises; Enlighten, an AI engine for CX that discovers automation opportunities for self-service; digital-entry points solutions that 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 connecting them using real time AI-based routing.

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