Verint Systems (NASDAQ:VRNT) Shares Gap Up to $31.09

Shares of Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $31.09, but opened at $35.00. Verint Systems shares last traded at $35.34, with a volume of 349,364 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Verint Systems in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Verint Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Verint Systems in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Verint Systems in a report on Thursday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Verint Systems from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verint Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.20.

Verint Systems Stock Up 7.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 818.20, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dan Bodner sold 33,472 shares of Verint Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.29, for a total transaction of $1,047,338.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 860,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,929,112.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verint Systems by 565.7% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 58,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 49,500 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verint Systems by 764.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,037 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 917 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verint Systems by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,182,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $194,145,000 after acquiring an additional 73,592 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Verint Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,172,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Verint Systems by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 419,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,331,000 after buying an additional 230,778 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.95% of the company’s stock.

About Verint Systems

Verint Systems Inc provides customer engagement solutions worldwide. It offers various applications for use in Forecasting and Scheduling, which understands the work needed to meet and exceed customer expectations; Quality and Compliance that uses automation and analytics for customer interactions for attended and self-service channels; Interaction Insights, which extracts insights from structured and unstructured customer interactions and activities; Real-Time Work that supports in-the-moment workforce activities; Engagement Channels, an application for messaging, social, chat, email, and interactive voice response; Conversational AI, an intelligent virtual assistant application to enable human-like conversations across every channel; Knowledge Management, which enables humans and bots to deliver service with tools.