Flputnam Investment Management Co. Makes New Investment in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,525 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NICE. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in NICE by 208.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 148 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth acquired a new position in NICE during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NICE in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of NICE by 43.8% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of NICE during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NICE shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed 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. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on NICE from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of NICE from $260.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of NICE from $176.00 to $161.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.64.

NICE Price Performance

NICE stock opened at $140.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.06. NICE Ltd. has a 12 month low of $137.19 and a 12 month high of $270.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $166.02 and its 200-day moving average is $172.27.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.96 by ($0.71). NICE had a net margin of 16.18% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $721.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $718.47 million. Research analysts anticipate that NICE Ltd. will post 9.85 EPS for the current 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.