AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Upgraded 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 report sent to investors on Tuesday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on AudioCodes from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AudioCodes from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th.

AudioCodes Trading Down 2.5 %

AUDC opened at $10.82 on Tuesday. AudioCodes has a 1-year low of $7.14 and a 1-year high of $14.45. The company has a market cap of $328.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $12.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.63.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.04. AudioCodes had a net margin of 3.59% and a return on equity of 7.35%. The company had revenue of $63.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.18 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AudioCodes will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a yield of 2.6%. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 128.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 62.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 20,423 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 7,856 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in AudioCodes during the third quarter worth about $116,000. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AudioCodes by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 211,970 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,143,000 after acquiring an additional 76,742 shares during the last quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AudioCodes in the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 236.0% in the 3rd quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 780,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,891,000 after acquiring an additional 548,200 shares in the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.