Short Interest in AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Increases By 33.6%

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 165,400 shares, an increase of 33.6% from the July 15th total of 123,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 77,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

AudioCodes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AUDC opened at $10.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $320.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $10.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.42. AudioCodes has a fifty-two week low of $7.14 and a fifty-two week high of $14.45.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. AudioCodes’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AUDC. StockNews.com cut shares of AudioCodes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of AudioCodes in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of AudioCodes from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AudioCodes

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in AudioCodes by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 25,683 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 7,009 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in AudioCodes in the second quarter worth $143,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in AudioCodes in the second quarter worth $1,123,000. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 85.3% during the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 441,878 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $4,587,000 after purchasing an additional 203,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 9.5% in the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 202,182 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after buying an additional 17,589 shares in the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About AudioCodes

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.