Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,360,000 shares, a growth of 19.9% from the January 31st total of 4,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 703,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.6 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Open Text Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ OTEX opened at $26.33 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Open Text has a 12-month low of $25.07 and a 12-month high of $40.55. The company has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 1.17.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.10. Open Text had a return on equity of 23.23% and a net margin of 12.21%. Research analysts anticipate that Open Text will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.2625 per share. This is a boost from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Open Text’s payout ratio is presently 42.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. UBS Group started coverage on Open Text in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. TD Securities dropped their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Open Text from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.18.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Open Text by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,093 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Open Text by 40.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,373 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Open Text by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,564 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Open Text by 103.8% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,011 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Open Text by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 26,477 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. 70.37% of the stock is currently 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.