AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AudioCodes in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $10.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

AudioCodes Price Performance

Shares of AUDC opened at $12.22 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.97 and a 200-day moving average of $9.82. The company has a market cap of $369.29 million, a PE ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 0.80. AudioCodes has a one year low of $7.70 and a one year high of $14.04.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.09. AudioCodes had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 4.99%. Analysts expect that AudioCodes will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 3%. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.00%.

Institutional Trading of AudioCodes

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in AudioCodes by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,309 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in AudioCodes by 151.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 7,009 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 72.8% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 21,672 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 9,133 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of AudioCodes by 11.1% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 91,287 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 9,150 shares in the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is currently 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.