Barclays Raises AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Price Target to $10.00

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

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AudioCodes in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com upgraded AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

AudioCodes Stock Down 1.2 %

AUDC opened at $12.22 on Wednesday. AudioCodes has a 52 week low of $7.70 and a 52 week high of $14.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.82. The firm has a market cap of $369.29 million, a P/E ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 0.80.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.09. AudioCodes had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 4.99%. Sell-side analysts expect that AudioCodes will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. AudioCodes’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Institutional Trading of AudioCodes

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AUDC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in AudioCodes in the third quarter valued at $1,618,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in AudioCodes by 95.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 104,037 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 50,704 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in AudioCodes in the third quarter valued at $595,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in AudioCodes by 37.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 25,683 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 7,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake 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 valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 9,150 shares in the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.