It does **** in rankings but look at the times top 100 graduate employers book and its one of the most targeted universitys along with warwick, london colleges, manchester and oxbridge. Yes it is more "targeted" than the likes of durham/bristol/st andrews/york. Up to you whether you believe me or not.
I always asumed Nottingham was not very good because the people I know who have been interested in it went on about their emphasis on careers advise and such - which made me think of vocational style courses - which made me think it wasn't a particularly prestigious academic institution. Woops, I should have looked into it. Must have been a coincidence the people I spoke to were pretty unintelligent (and rude). These weren't actually students, just applicants. Oh dear, I am sorry I thought of you in that way Nottingham.
It definitely is with employers, my mum used to be a head hunter, and the businesses she worked for really thought a lot of it. Plus it has a beautiful campus.
Whether something has prestige or not is debatable and subjective. Read that thread (or even this thread) and some will say yes, others will say no. Some will say it's UCL/Durham/Bristol level and some will say more the redbricks, Newcastle, Cardiff etc.
Back in the late 90s and early 00s it went through a period of great development which lead it to become a "leading alternative to Oxbridge" alongside the London unis, Durham and Bristol. All unis have their periods of popularity and Nottingham soon passed to Newcastle and then Newcastle to Manchester.
If what you're asking is is it a top university, one that offers great teaching and research across the faculties then yes it is. Is it well targeted by employers and well represented in employment (particularly banking, business and maybe law) then yes it is.
I may have been a little unfair in that thread I've linked, but even then I still did think it was a top uni that can come close to matching the top unis outside Oxbidge, probably even match it. But I still stand by what I said, it could do with more of a presence in the arts.
It's pretty prestigious in general; more so depending on what degree you do - for example, a good degree in Law from Nottingham is as good as a degree in Law from any UK institution (the course here is notoriously hard) whereas we might not be world-beating in some other courses...