NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) Shares Sold by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,438 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,877 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in NICE were worth $2,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in NICE by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,627,984 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $357,017,000 after buying an additional 32,312 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in NICE by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,436,177 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $244,150,000 after buying an additional 16,513 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in NICE by 193.7% in the 3rd quarter. Phoenix Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,265,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $215,170,000 after buying an additional 834,819 shares in the last quarter. Black Creek Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in NICE by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Black Creek Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,144,309 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $194,533,000 after buying an additional 206,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in NICE by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,017,406 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $172,929,000 after buying an additional 5,803 shares in the last quarter. 63.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on NICE shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on NICE from $238.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. TheStreet raised NICE from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on NICE from $225.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Wedbush increased their price target on NICE from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on NICE from $283.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $291.55.

NICE Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NICE opened at $224.19 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.05, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.10. NICE Ltd. has a 52-week low of $149.54 and a 52-week high of $270.73.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $623.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $616.83 million. NICE had a return on equity of 13.29% and a net margin of 14.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NICE Ltd. will post 8.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.