AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Shares Bought by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,309 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in AudioCodes were worth $509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AUDC. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in AudioCodes by 151.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 2,185 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the fourth quarter worth about $97,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 95.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 104,037 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 50,704 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 9,133 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $595,000. 68.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AudioCodes Stock Down 1.0 %

AUDC opened at $9.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $296.13 million, a PE ratio of 19.60 and a beta of 0.86. AudioCodes Ltd. has a twelve month low of $7.70 and a twelve month high of $13.18. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $10.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.88.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 10.47% and a net margin of 6.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AudioCodes Ltd. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AUDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on AudioCodes from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th.

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.