NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) saw a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,630,000 shares, a growth of 44.2% from the May 15th total of 1,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 454,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

NICE Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:NICE traded up $1.96 on Monday, reaching $167.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 757,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 529,509. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $160.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.56. The firm has a market cap of $10.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.01. NICE has a 12-month low of $137.19 and a 12-month high of $200.65.

NICE (NASDAQ:NICE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The technology company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.03. NICE had a net margin of 16.18% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company had revenue of $700.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. NICE’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that NICE will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NICE. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $182.00 target price (up from $153.00) on shares of NICE in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of NICE from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on NICE from $286.00 to $226.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on NICE from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut NICE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.92.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in NICE by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 22,073 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,749,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of NICE by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 3,740 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in NICE by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,160 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,046,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NICE by 329.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 4,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in NICE by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,335 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $736,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the period. 63.34% of the stock is currently 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.