Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. (NYSE:NIC) Short Interest Update

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. (NYSE:NIC) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 215,500 shares, a decline of 20.7% from the July 15th total of 271,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 46,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Eric James Witczak sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.18, for a total transaction of $1,457,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,075.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Susan L. Merkatoris sold 5,000 shares of Nicolet Bankshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.45, for a total value of $487,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 83,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,109,594.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Eric James Witczak sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.18, for a total value of $1,457,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,075.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,528 shares of company stock worth $3,053,362 over the last three months. 16.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nicolet Bankshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares by 2,480.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 163,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,094,000 after buying an additional 157,566 shares during the period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp purchased a new stake in Nicolet Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at $2,012,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Nicolet Bankshares by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 542,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,629,000 after purchasing an additional 20,299 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares during the 1st quarter worth $1,041,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 705,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,704,000 after purchasing an additional 8,213 shares during the last quarter. 43.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NIC has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Nicolet Bankshares from $86.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Nicolet Bankshares from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.00.

Nicolet Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of NIC stock traded up $3.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $91.85. The company had a trading volume of 44,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,777. Nicolet Bankshares has a 12-month low of $63.58 and a 12-month high of $104.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $87.44 and a 200-day moving average of $82.72.

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.18. Nicolet Bankshares had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company had revenue of $85.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.40 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nicolet Bankshares will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Nicolet Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. This is an increase from Nicolet Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Nicolet Bankshares’s payout ratio is 17.26%.

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.