Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) Lowered to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Nicolet Bankshares from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Nicolet Bankshares from $185.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Maxim Group increased their price target on Nicolet Bankshares from $161.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Hovde Group decreased their target price on Nicolet Bankshares from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Nicolet Bankshares from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.50.

Nicolet Bankshares Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NIC opened at $142.12 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $147.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 0.70. Nicolet Bankshares has a 52 week low of $114.11 and a 52 week high of $163.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $134.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.74 million. Nicolet Bankshares had a return on equity of 11.48% and a net margin of 21.89%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nicolet Bankshares will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Nicolet Bankshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This is a boost from Nicolet Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Nicolet Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 15.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nicolet Bankshares

In other news, Director Robert Bruce Atwell sold 3,309 shares of Nicolet Bankshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.82, for a total value of $495,754.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 34,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,101,970.28. The trade was a 8.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PDT Partners LLC grew its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 5,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 71.8% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Nicolet Bankshares by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 23,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,829,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. 43.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Nicolet Bankshares

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Through its subsidiary, Nicolet National Bank, it provides a range of commercial and consumer banking services to businesses, individuals and nonprofit organizations across northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The company’s branch network, digital banking platform and commercial lending centers support its focus on community banking and regional growth.

The company offers deposit products such as checking, savings and money market accounts, alongside consumer and commercial lending solutions.