AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AudioCodes from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th.

AudioCodes Stock Down 0.6 %

AUDC stock opened at $11.05 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $12.33 and a 200-day moving average of $11.64. The firm has a market cap of $335.04 million, a PE ratio of 39.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.84. AudioCodes has a 12-month low of $7.14 and a 12-month high of $14.45.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $63.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.18 million. AudioCodes had a return on equity of 7.35% and a net margin of 3.59%. On average, research analysts expect that AudioCodes will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 128.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AUDC. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 174,521 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 2,702 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of AudioCodes by 15.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 94,563 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after buying an additional 12,541 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of AudioCodes during the first quarter valued at about $1,660,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of AudioCodes in the fourth quarter worth about $166,000. Finally, Eagle Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $338,000. 68.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AudioCodes Company Profile

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.