Sandy Spring Bank Increases Stake in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE)

Sandy Spring Bank increased its holdings in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) by 181.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 225 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in NICE were worth $38,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NICE. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in NICE by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 405,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,838,000 after buying an additional 117,631 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in NICE by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,670,327 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $283,349,000 after buying an additional 151,528 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new stake in NICE during the 4th quarter valued at $224,000. Haven Capital Group Inc. bought a new stake in NICE during the 4th quarter valued at $5,577,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in NICE by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 11,164 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after buying an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on shares of NICE from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of NICE from $176.00 to $161.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $215.00) on shares of NICE in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of NICE from $286.00 to $226.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NICE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.64.

NICE Stock Performance

Shares of NICE stock opened at $156.78 on Friday. NICE Ltd. has a one year low of $137.19 and a one year high of $270.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $159.84 and its 200 day moving average is $169.46. The company has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.12.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.96 by ($0.71). NICE had a net margin of 16.18% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $721.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $718.47 million. As a group, research analysts predict that NICE Ltd. will post 9.85 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.