NICE Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:NICE)

NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 3,241 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 48% compared to the average daily volume of 2,191 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NICE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of NICE from $279.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. DA Davidson dropped their target price on NICE from $300.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $215.00) on shares of NICE in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Finally, Northland Securities decreased their target price on NICE from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.64.

NICE Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NICE traded up $1.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $146.24. The company had a trading volume of 317,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 638,354. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.70. NICE has a fifty-two week low of $143.93 and a fifty-two week high of $270.73. The stock has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.06.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.96 by ($0.71). NICE had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 16.18%. The business had revenue of $721.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $718.47 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that NICE will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of NICE

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NICE. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NICE in the fourth quarter worth about $313,808,000. FIL Ltd purchased a new position in NICE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,465,000. New South Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in NICE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,980,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in NICE by 95.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 606,341 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $102,981,000 after acquiring an additional 296,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in shares of NICE by 21.6% during the third quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,575,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $273,642,000 after purchasing an additional 279,375 shares during the period. 63.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.