NICE Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:NICE)

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NICE

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in shares of NICE by 56.9% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc boosted its stake in shares of NICE by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NICE by 43.8% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 220 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in shares of NICE by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berry Wealth Group LP boosted its stake in shares of NICE by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 1,616 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.34% of the company’s stock.

NICE Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ NICE opened at $142.99 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $167.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.49. NICE has a 12-month low of $142.77 and a 12-month high of $270.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.06.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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. Equities analysts forecast that NICE will post 9.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased 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. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on NICE from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on NICE from $260.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reduced their target price on NICE from $279.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their target price on NICE from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.64.

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.