AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Price Target Raised to $10.00

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $9.00 to $10.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on AUDC. StockNews.com raised AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of AudioCodes in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st.

AudioCodes Price Performance

Shares of AudioCodes stock opened at $12.22 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.82. AudioCodes has a 12 month low of $7.70 and a 12 month high of $14.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $369.29 million, a P/E ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 0.80.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AudioCodes will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.18 dividend. 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 presently 90.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AudioCodes by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,309 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in AudioCodes by 151.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in AudioCodes by 37.5% in the second 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 period. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its position in AudioCodes by 72.8% in the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 21,672 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 9,133 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in 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 worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 9,150 shares during the period. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.