AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com downgraded shares of AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised their target price on AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

AudioCodes Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of AudioCodes stock opened at $8.96 on Friday. AudioCodes has a 12-month low of $7.70 and a 12-month high of $12.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.93 million, a PE ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.09 and its 200-day moving average is $9.81.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 6.32% and a return on equity of 10.47%. Analysts expect that AudioCodes will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a yield of 3%. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of AudioCodes during the third quarter worth $595,000. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 72.8% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in AudioCodes by 95.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 104,037 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 50,704 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 in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AudioCodes during the 4th quarter worth $97,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.05% of the company’s stock.

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.