Baird Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE)

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,059 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NICE were worth $1,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NICE. Avion Wealth purchased a new position in NICE during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NICE during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of NICE by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 150 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NICE by 43.8% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank grew its holdings in shares of NICE by 181.3% during the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 225 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. 63.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NICE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on NICE from $235.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of NICE from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of NICE from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of NICE from $176.00 to $161.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.29.

NICE Price Performance

Shares of NICE stock opened at $166.82 on Wednesday. NICE Ltd. has a 1 year low of $137.19 and a 1 year high of $228.80. The company has a market capitalization of $10.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $152.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.47.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $721.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $718.47 million. As a group, research analysts expect that NICE Ltd. will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.