HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 475 Shares of NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE)

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,004 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in NICE were worth $6,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in NICE by 329.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 4,407 shares during the last quarter. Bruni J V & Co. Co. bought a new position in shares of NICE in the third quarter worth about $22,849,000. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NICE by 106.5% during the 4th quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 4,303 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219 shares during the last quarter. Kopion Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in NICE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,433,000. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in NICE by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 517,039 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $89,794,000 after buying an additional 7,635 shares during the last quarter. 63.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. Barclays reduced their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of NICE from $260.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down previously from $215.00) on shares of NICE in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on NICE from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.64.

NICE Stock Performance

NICE opened at $151.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.79. NICE Ltd. has a twelve month low of $137.19 and a twelve month high of $270.73.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.96 by ($0.71). NICE had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 16.18%. The firm had revenue of $721.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $718.47 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NICE Ltd. will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NICE 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.