Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) Sets New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $24.91 and last traded at $25.12, with a volume of 458436 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Open Text from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Open Text in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. TD Securities decreased their price objective on Open Text from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Sunday, February 9th. StockNews.com cut Open Text from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Open Text from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.18.

Open Text Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a PE ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 1.17.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share (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, equities analysts forecast that Open Text Co. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.2625 per share. This represents a $1.05 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.15%. This is a boost from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Open Text’s payout ratio is presently 42.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Open Text

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd raised its holdings in Open Text by 11.8% in 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 in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Open Text by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,275,908 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $205,925,000 after purchasing an additional 632,437 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in shares of Open Text by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 6,308,967 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $178,670,000 after purchasing an additional 389,220 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Open Text by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,994,675 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $169,555,000 after purchasing an additional 2,586,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Open Text by 1.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,642,455 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $187,952,000 after buying an additional 63,620 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.37% of the company’s stock.

About Open Text

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.