NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) Given Outperform Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $260.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

NICE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of NICE from $320.00 to $286.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of NICE in a research report on Friday, August 16th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of NICE from $300.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of NICE in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of NICE in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.57.

NICE Stock Performance

NICE stock traded down $9.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $172.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,165,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 525,258. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $172.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.34. NICE has a 1-year low of $151.52 and a 1-year high of $270.73. The company has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 2.45.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $664.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $664.10 million. NICE had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 15.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NICE will post 8.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vulcan Value Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of NICE by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vulcan Value Partners LLC now owns 1,188,371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,168,000 after acquiring an additional 394,715 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in NICE by 21.6% in the third quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,575,645 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $273,642,000 after purchasing an additional 279,375 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in NICE by 63.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 694,050 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $119,317,000 after buying an additional 268,677 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in NICE during the second quarter valued at $44,076,000. Finally, Black Creek Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NICE by 22.6% during the 2nd quarter. Black Creek Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,356,775 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $233,325,000 after buying an additional 250,334 shares in the last quarter. 63.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.