Legato Capital Management LLC Makes New $446,000 Investment in Nicolet Bankshares Inc. $NIC

Legato Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nicolet Bankshares Inc. (NYSE:NIC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Nicolet Bankshares by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 737,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,468,000 after acquiring an additional 22,474 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Nicolet Bankshares by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 540,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,695,000 after acquiring an additional 21,473 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Nicolet Bankshares by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 199,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,789,000 after acquiring an additional 57,536 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in Nicolet Bankshares by 71.6% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 49,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,653,000 after acquiring an additional 20,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Nicolet Bankshares by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 49,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,982,000 after acquiring an additional 11,729 shares in the last quarter. 43.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Nicolet Bankshares from $185.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Hovde Group dropped their target price on shares of Nicolet Bankshares from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nicolet Bankshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Nicolet Bankshares from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.50.

Nicolet Bankshares Trading Down 3.0%

NYSE NIC opened at $139.79 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.41. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.11 and a 52 week high of $163.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 0.70.

Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $134.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $129.74 million. Nicolet Bankshares had a return on equity of 11.48% and a net margin of 21.89%. Equities research analysts predict that Nicolet Bankshares Inc. will post 11.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nicolet Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This is a positive change from Nicolet Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Nicolet Bankshares’s payout ratio is presently 15.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nicolet Bankshares news, Director Robert Bruce Atwell sold 3,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.82, for a total transaction of $495,754.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,054 shares in the company, valued at $5,101,970.28. The trade was a 8.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.