StockNews.com Upgrades AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) to Strong-Buy

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

Several other research firms have also weighed in on AUDC. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of AudioCodes in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th.

AudioCodes Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:AUDC opened at $10.04 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $304.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.19. AudioCodes has a twelve month low of $7.14 and a twelve month high of $14.45.

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

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a yield of 3.3%. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AUDC. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AudioCodes in the 2nd quarter valued at about $143,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AudioCodes in the 1st quarter valued at about $159,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AudioCodes in the 4th quarter valued at about $166,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 15,828 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 9,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 37.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 25,683 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 7,009 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.05% of the company’s stock.

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.