AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 102,000 shares, an increase of 8.9% from the April 30th total of 93,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 63,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AUDC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on AudioCodes from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 9th. StockNews.com upgraded AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on AudioCodes from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th.

Institutional Trading of AudioCodes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AudioCodes during the third quarter worth about $116,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 236.0% in the third quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 780,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,891,000 after purchasing an additional 548,200 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AudioCodes in the third quarter worth approximately $188,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,253,000. Finally, Anchor Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AudioCodes during the third quarter valued at approximately $520,000. Institutional investors own 68.05% of the company’s stock.

AudioCodes Stock Down 0.1 %

AUDC traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $9.99. The company had a trading volume of 30,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 77,577. The company has a market capitalization of $302.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $11.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.84. AudioCodes has a 52 week low of $7.14 and a 52 week high of $14.45.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $60.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.66 million. AudioCodes had a return on equity of 9.66% and a net margin of 4.50%. Research analysts predict that AudioCodes will post 0.66 EPS for the current year.

AudioCodes Company Profile

AudioCodes Ltd. provides advanced communications software, products, and productivity solutions for the digital workplace worldwide. The company offers solutions, products, and services for unified communications, contact centers, hosted business services, Voice.AI, and service provider businesses. Its products include session border controllers, life cycle management solutions, VoIP network routing solutions, media gateways and servers, multi-service business routers, IP phones solutions, and value-added applications, as well as professional services.