Short Interest in Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. (NYSE:NIC) Grows By 23.8%

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. (NYSE:NIC) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 69,600 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the December 15th total of 56,200 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 51,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nicolet Bankshares

In other news, EVP Brad Vincent Hutjens sold 4,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.85, for a total value of $468,996.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,743,420.90. The trade was a 14.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Bruce Atwell sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.01, for a total value of $252,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,365,148.15. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,599 shares of company stock worth $9,326,168 over the last three months. Insiders own 16.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NIC. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Nicolet Bankshares by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,468 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Nicolet Bankshares by 3.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 587,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,783,000 after buying an additional 16,952 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Nicolet Bankshares during the third quarter worth $412,000. Creative Planning raised its position in Nicolet Bankshares by 6.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 12,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nicolet Bankshares during the 3rd quarter worth $528,000. 43.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NIC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Nicolet Bankshares from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of Nicolet Bankshares from $120.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.00.

Nicolet Bankshares Stock Performance

Shares of NIC stock traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $106.30. The company had a trading volume of 56,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,684. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.09. Nicolet Bankshares has a 52-week low of $73.00 and a 52-week high of $116.17.

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $91.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.50 million. Nicolet Bankshares had a net margin of 23.35% and a return on equity of 10.56%. Research analysts anticipate that Nicolet Bankshares will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nicolet Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Nicolet Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.25%.

Nicolet Bankshares Company Profile

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.