Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) Upgraded to Outperform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $160.00 price objective on the stock.

NIC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 target price (up from $122.50) on shares of Nicolet Bankshares in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nicolet Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Maxim Group increased their target price on shares of Nicolet Bankshares from $131.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Nicolet Bankshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nicolet Bankshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $153.67.

Nicolet Bankshares Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NIC stock opened at $122.54 on Monday. Nicolet Bankshares has a 52-week low of $97.90 and a 52-week high of $141.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 0.73.

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $2.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.32. Nicolet Bankshares had a net margin of 26.39% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The firm had revenue of $102.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.83 million. Research analysts anticipate that Nicolet Bankshares will post 8.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nicolet Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Nicolet Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.70%.

Insider Activity at Nicolet Bankshares

In related news, EVP Eric James Witczak sold 1,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.42, for a total transaction of $221,398.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 28,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,029,377.42. This represents a 5.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 14.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nicolet Bankshares

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 50.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 519,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,088,000 after purchasing an additional 174,361 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 485.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 184,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,755,000 after purchasing an additional 152,817 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Nicolet Bankshares in the 1st quarter worth approximately $15,303,000. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. lifted its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 888,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,793,000 after purchasing an additional 45,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Nicolet Bankshares in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,754,000. 43.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nicolet Bankshares

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Nicolet National Bank that provides banking products and services for businesses and individuals in Wisconsin and Michigan. The company accepts checking, savings, and money market accounts; various certificates of deposit; and individual retirement accounts.