Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for NICE (NASDAQ:NICE)

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target suggests a potential upside of 29.84% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on NICE from $279.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on NICE from $176.00 to $161.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $215.00) on shares of NICE in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on NICE from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NICE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.64.

NICE Price Performance

NICE stock traded up $3.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $154.04. The company had a trading volume of 41,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 560,385. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.79. The company has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, 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.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analyst estimates of $718.47 million. On average, equities analysts predict that NICE will post 9.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NICE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NICE. Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of NICE during the 3rd quarter valued at about $215,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new position in NICE in the third quarter worth approximately $1,805,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in NICE by 33.6% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 8,992 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,562,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of NICE by 7.0% in the third quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 11,674 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in shares of NICE by 12.5% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 2,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.34% of the company’s stock.

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.