Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 33,759 Shares of NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership reduced its stake in NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,286,765 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 33,759 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in NICE were worth $218,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners raised its holdings in NICE by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,670,327 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $283,349,000 after acquiring an additional 151,528 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its position in NICE by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 704,494 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $119,517,000 after buying an additional 87,003 shares in the last quarter. American Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NICE by 1.4% in the third quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 540,311 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,836,000 after purchasing an additional 7,303 shares during the period. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in NICE by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 405,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,838,000 after acquiring an additional 117,631 shares during the period. Finally, New South Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in NICE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $54,980,000. 63.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NICE Price Performance

NICE stock opened at $159.06 on Thursday. NICE Ltd. has a 1-year low of $137.19 and a 1-year high of $262.56. The stock has a market cap of $10.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.38.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last announced 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 net margin of 16.18% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $721.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $718.47 million. Equities analysts expect that NICE Ltd. will post 9.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NICE. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of NICE in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of NICE from $176.00 to $161.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on shares of NICE from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of NICE from $286.00 to $226.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Four research 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, the company currently has a consensus 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.