Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Makes New $2.90 Million Investment in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE)

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 16,683 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,897,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in NICE by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,408 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel increased its holdings in NICE by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 10,906 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc raised its stake in shares of NICE by 17.8% in the second quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 569 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NICE by 11.4% in the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 841 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of NICE by 1.3% during the second quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 6,678 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.34% of the company’s stock.

NICE Price Performance

NICE stock opened at $189.99 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $170.69 and a 200-day moving average of $179.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.04. NICE Ltd. has a 12 month low of $151.52 and a 12 month high of $270.73.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The technology company reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.06. NICE had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $664.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $664.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NICE Ltd. will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NICE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on NICE from $320.00 to $286.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of NICE in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of NICE in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of NICE in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their target price on NICE from $305.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $269.64.

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.