AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on AUDC. Barclays dropped their price objective on AudioCodes from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of AudioCodes in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

AudioCodes Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of AUDC opened at $10.14 on Monday. AudioCodes has a 12 month low of $7.14 and a 12 month high of $14.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $10.74 and its 200-day moving average is $11.20. The firm has a market cap of $307.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33 and a beta of 0.88.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.11. AudioCodes had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 5.61%. The company had revenue of $60.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.93 million. As a group, research analysts predict that AudioCodes will post 0.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a yield of 3.3%. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AudioCodes by 2.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 852,899 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $11,122,000 after purchasing an additional 23,104 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its stake in AudioCodes by 1.6% during the first quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 838,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,933,000 after acquiring an additional 13,000 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 85.3% during the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 441,878 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,587,000 after acquiring an additional 203,399 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 202,182 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 17,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Investment Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 174,521 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 2,702 shares during the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.