The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Stake in Nicolet Bankshares Inc. $NIC

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Nicolet Bankshares Inc. (NYSE:NIC) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 234,523 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,031 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Nicolet Bankshares were worth $25,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth $61,000. KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in Nicolet Bankshares in the 1st quarter worth $95,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares during the 1st quarter valued at about $210,000. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares during the first quarter valued at about $239,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Nicolet Bankshares in the fourth quarter worth about $240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Nicolet Bankshares

In other news, EVP Eric James Witczak sold 1,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.42, for a total transaction of $221,398.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 28,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,029,377.42. This represents a 5.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert Bruce Atwell sold 6,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.47, for a total value of $962,900.88. Following the transaction, the director owned 34,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,772,663.40. The trade was a 16.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,182 shares of company stock worth $2,466,754 over the last three months. 14.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on NIC. Wall Street Zen raised Nicolet Bankshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Nicolet Bankshares from $118.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Nicolet Bankshares from $131.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (up previously from $122.50) on shares of Nicolet Bankshares in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.33.

Nicolet Bankshares Price Performance

NYSE:NIC opened at $137.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.99. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.07 and a 1 year high of $141.92.

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $95.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.89 million. Nicolet Bankshares had a return on equity of 11.48% and a net margin of 25.12%. Equities analysts forecast that Nicolet Bankshares Inc. will post 8.18 EPS for the current year.

Nicolet Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Nicolet Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.70%.

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.