BlackRock offloaded $130 million-worth of NICE shares in first half of 2024
BlackRock offloaded $130 million-worth of NICE shares in first half of 2024
The investment giant’s stake in the Israeli software company has dropped from 5.4% at the end of 2023 to 4.3% as of the end of June. NICE has seen its shares fall by over 12% so far this year, hitting their lowest mark since 2020.
The investment giant BlackRock has sold NICE shares worth NIS 470 million (approximately $130 million) since the beginning of the year, according to a report by the Israeli software company. BlackRock's holding in NICE has dropped from 5.4% at the end of 2023 to 4.3% as of the end of June, with its holdings now estimated at NIS 1.73 billion ($470 million).
BlackRock is the second-largest shareholder in the Israeli technology giant, which is traded on the local stock exchange and Nasdaq, with a market value estimated at more than NIS 40.4 billion ($11 billion). In the first half of 2024, during which BlackRock sold its holdings in NICE, the company’s shares experienced a negative trend, falling by 12%.
BlackRock does not disclose the price of the transactions in which it sold its shares, so the exact scope of the sale is only estimated.
In recent years, BlackRock has been reducing its holding in NICE. At the beginning of 2022, it owned 8.1% of the shares of the Israeli technology company, and since then, it has sold shares worth almost NIS 2 billion over a little more than two years.
The negative trend in NICE shares in the last two months and BlackRock's sale of shares come at a challenging period for the Israeli software company. NICe, whose revenue mostly comes from software for managing customer service centers, will have to contend with a competing product by Microsoft based on AI. The announcement of this competition by the American technology giant last June caused sharp declines in NICE shares.
The negative trend in NICE shares also occurs against the backdrop of the retirement of CEO Barak Eilam. Eilam, the company's CEO for the past decade, announced his retirement in May and will end his position in February 2025. Investors are concerned that Eilam recognized the potential for NICE's decline, particularly with the strengthening of AI tools in its field, and chose to retire at a peak time.
In light of Eilam's departure, the board of directors has requested to grant him 50,000 restricted shares worth NIS 30 million. The NICE board of directors decided that the grant would be given to him despite the opposition of the shareholders, who voted against the grant last week.
