Short Interest in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) Declines By 19.0%

NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) saw a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,180,000 shares, a decline of 19.0% from the February 13th total of 2,690,000 shares. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 587,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on NICE shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on NICE from $286.00 to $226.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of NICE from $176.00 to $161.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $215.00) on shares of NICE in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of NICE from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of NICE from $260.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.64.

NICE Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NICE stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $151.02. 529,330 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 562,439. The stock 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. NICE has a 52 week low of $137.19 and a 52 week high of $270.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $160.44 and its 200-day moving average is $169.79.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NICE

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NICE. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in NICE during the 4th quarter valued at $313,808,000. FIL Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of NICE during the fourth quarter worth about $70,465,000. New South Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NICE in the fourth quarter worth about $54,980,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in NICE by 95.7% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 606,341 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $102,981,000 after purchasing an additional 296,514 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in NICE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,792,000. 63.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.