NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $199.17, but opened at $181.32. NICE shares last traded at $171.40, with a volume of 527,122 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of NICE in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Northland Securities decreased their price target on shares of NICE from $305.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of NICE in a report on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of NICE in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of NICE in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, NICE currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $268.79.

NICE Trading Down 12.9 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.68. The stock has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.61, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NICE

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NICE by 10.8% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,538 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $922,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NICE during the 1st quarter valued at $813,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NICE in the 1st quarter worth $298,000. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NICE in the first quarter valued at $313,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in NICE by 22.9% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 5,873 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.34% of the company’s stock.

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.