Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. (NYSE:NIC)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after Stephens lowered their price target on the stock from $92.00 to $88.00. The stock had previously closed at $77.71, but opened at $75.39. Stephens currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Nicolet Bankshares shares last traded at $75.71, with a volume of 25,683 shares traded.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Nicolet Bankshares from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Nicolet Bankshares from $88.00 to $82.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Hovde Group upgraded Nicolet Bankshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, TheStreet raised Nicolet Bankshares from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nicolet Bankshares presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nicolet Bankshares news, EVP Eric James Witczak sold 2,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.45, for a total transaction of $169,269.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 41,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,415,656.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Eric James Witczak sold 2,053 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.45, for a total value of $169,269.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,415,656.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Bruce Atwell sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $163,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 42,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,513,895.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 16.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nicolet Bankshares

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares by 9.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 45,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,901,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 697,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,153,000 after acquiring an additional 17,539 shares during the period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new stake in shares of Nicolet Bankshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,012,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Nicolet Bankshares by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $789,000 after purchasing an additional 846 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. 43.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nicolet Bankshares Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.66.

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.12. Nicolet Bankshares had a net margin of 20.60% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The business had revenue of $89.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.30 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. will post 6.93 EPS for the current year.

Nicolet Bankshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Nicolet Bankshares’s payout ratio is 15.41%.

About Nicolet Bankshares

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Nicolet National Bank that provides banking products and services for businesses and individuals in Wisconsin and Michigan. The company accepts checking, savings, and money market accounts; various certificates of deposit; and individual retirement accounts.