Earnest Partners LLC Trims Position in NiCE $NICE

Earnest Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of NiCE (NASDAQ:NICE) by 9.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,958 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 13,822 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned approximately 0.21% of NiCE worth $19,105,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiCE during the 1st quarter worth $226,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in NiCE by 81.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 229,813 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,430,000 after purchasing an additional 103,342 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in NiCE in the first quarter valued at $892,000. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in NiCE by 18.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 20,140 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,105,000 after buying an additional 3,178 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in NiCE by 8.2% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. 63.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiCE Price Performance

NiCE stock opened at $117.39 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.95. NiCE has a 12 month low of $94.65 and a 12 month high of $180.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $114.07 and its 200-day moving average is $122.16.

NiCE (NASDAQ:NICE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The technology company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.01. NiCE had a return on equity of 18.26% and a net margin of 20.78%.The business had revenue of $786.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $779.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. NiCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.850-11.050 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.450-2.550 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that NiCE will post 9.85 EPS for the current year.

NiCE declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, February 19th that allows the company to repurchase $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 9.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NICE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $148.00 price target on NiCE in a report on Friday, February 20th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $124.00 price objective on shares of NiCE in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of NiCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of NiCE from $154.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NiCE in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NiCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.83.

About NiCE

NiCE Ltd is a global software provider specializing in solutions for customer engagement, financial crime prevention, public safety, workforce optimization and border security. Its product offerings include cloud-native and on-premises platforms that leverage advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and automation to help organizations enhance customer experiences, streamline operations and ensure regulatory compliance. NiCE’s portfolio addresses the needs of contact centers, financial institutions, government agencies and enterprises across a broad range of industries.

In customer engagement, NiCE delivers tools for omnichannel interaction management, real-time and historical analytics, workforce management, and quality management.