Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $26.84 and last traded at $26.86, with a volume of 426034 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OTEX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Open Text from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Open Text in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Open Text from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Sunday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Open Text from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Open Text from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Open Text presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.18.

Open Text Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.10. Open Text had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 23.23%. As a group, research analysts predict that Open Text Co. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.2625 dividend. This is an increase from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.05 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Open Text’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Open Text during the 4th quarter valued at $93,216,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Open Text by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,994,675 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $169,555,000 after acquiring an additional 2,586,549 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Open Text by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 18,547,256 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $522,879,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957,695 shares during the last quarter. Criteria Caixa S.A.U. purchased a new stake in Open Text during the 4th quarter worth about $32,890,000. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in Open Text by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 4,504,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $127,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017,065 shares during the last quarter. 70.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Open Text Company Profile

Open Text Corporation provides information management software and solutions. The company offers content services, which includes content collaboration and intelligent capture to records management, collaboration, e-signatures, and archiving; and operates experience cloud platform that provides customer experience and web content management, digital asset management, customer analytics, AI and insights, e-discovery, digital fax, omnichannel communications, secure messaging, and voice of customer, as well as customer journey, testing, and segmentation.