NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) Shares Gap Up to $166.78

NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $166.78, but opened at $175.08. NICE shares last traded at $173.75, with a volume of 345,623 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on NICE shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of NICE from $238.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NICE from $339.00 to $346.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on NICE from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com cut NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of NICE in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NICE presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $269.64.

NICE Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.43, a current ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a PE ratio of 30.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $171.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.25.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The technology company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $659.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $654.81 million. NICE had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 14.05%. As a group, research analysts predict that NICE Ltd. will post 8.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NICE

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in NICE during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in NICE by 88.9% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 136 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in NICE in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in NICE by 135.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 186 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of NICE by 72.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 219 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. 63.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 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.