StockNews.com Downgrades NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) to Buy

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

NICE has been the subject of several other research reports. William Blair initiated coverage on NICE in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 target price on shares of NICE in a report on Thursday, October 5th. TheStreet cut NICE from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 12th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $343.00 price target on shares of NICE in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of NICE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Monday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.00.

NICE Stock Up 6.1 %

NICE opened at $168.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.89. NICE has a one year low of $149.54 and a one year high of $231.54. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.31.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The technology company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.08. NICE had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 13.48%. The business had revenue of $581.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $579.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that NICE will post 6.5 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NICE

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in NICE by 148.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,032 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in NICE by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,315 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,880 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its position in shares of NICE by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 5,158 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of NICE by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 8,392 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NICE by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,432 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 63.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 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 connects them using real time AI-based routing.