Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $29.53, but opened at $30.83. Open Text shares last traded at $28.58, with a volume of 505,948 shares changing hands.

The software maker reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.10. Open Text had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 24.34%.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.2625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. This is a positive change from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Open Text’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on OTEX shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Open Text from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Open Text from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Open Text from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Open Text from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Open Text from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.45.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OTEX. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in Open Text by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 6,308,967 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $178,670,000 after purchasing an additional 389,220 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Open Text by 169.6% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 576,105 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $19,173,000 after buying an additional 362,422 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Open Text by 1,290.4% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 336,790 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,209,000 after buying an additional 312,567 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Open Text during the third quarter worth about $8,011,000. Finally, Andra AP fonden grew its holdings in shares of Open Text by 386.5% during the fourth quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 267,600 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,578,000 after buying an additional 212,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.37% of the company’s stock.

Open Text Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $28.90 and a 200-day moving average of $30.64. The stock has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 1.12.

Open Text Company Profile

Open Text Corporation provides information management software and solutions. The company offers content services, which includes content collaboration and intelligent capture to records management, collaboration, e-signatures, and archiving; and operates experience cloud platform that provides customer experience and web content management, digital asset management, customer analytics, AI and insights, e-discovery, digital fax, omnichannel communications, secure messaging, and voice of customer, as well as customer journey, testing, and segmentation.