NiCE (NASDAQ:NICE) Trading Down 6% After Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• NiCE shares fell about 6% intraday after Citigroup downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral and cut its price target from $184 to $119; shares traded as low as $97.56 and last around $98.21 on much lighter-than-average volume.
• Analyst coverage is mixed—six Buy, seven Hold and one Sell—giving a MarketBeat consensus rating of Hold with a consensus price target of $144.17, while individual targets range roughly from $120 to $155.
• Company fundamentals remain solid: NICE slightly beat quarterly EPS, reported 9% revenue growth, set FY2026 EPS guidance of 10.85–11.05, and approved a $600 million stock buyback (up to ~9.6% of shares outstanding).

NiCE (NASDAQ:NICE - Get Free Report) shares dropped 6% during mid-day trading on Friday after Citigroup downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a neutral rating. Citigroup now has a $119.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $184.00. NiCE traded as low as $97.56 and last traded at $98.2090. Approximately 236,793 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 787,557 shares. The stock had previously closed at $104.46.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NiCE in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of NiCE in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $124.00 price target on shares of NiCE in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of NiCE in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NiCE in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $144.17.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NICE. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in NiCE by 2.7% during the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 2,768,920 shares of the technology company's stock worth $400,884,000 after purchasing an additional 73,083 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its position in NiCE by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,732,137 shares of the technology company's stock worth $195,801,000 after purchasing an additional 11,433 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in shares of NiCE by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,646,690 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $186,142,000 after acquiring an additional 15,000 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of NiCE by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,256,752 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $142,063,000 after acquiring an additional 227,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NiCE by 116.1% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,226,920 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $207,238,000 after acquiring an additional 659,170 shares in the last quarter. 63.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiCE Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $113.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 10.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.97.

NiCE (NASDAQ:NICE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The technology company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $779.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.02 earnings per share. The business's revenue 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. On average, research analysts predict that NiCE will post 9.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiCE declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 19th that allows the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 9.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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