Short Interest in AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Expands By 19.8%

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 158,700 shares, a growth of 19.8% from the January 31st total of 132,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 99,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on AudioCodes from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th.

AudioCodes Price Performance

NASDAQ:AUDC opened at $10.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $319.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12 and a beta of 0.80. AudioCodes has a 1 year low of $7.70 and a 1 year high of $13.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.92.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, analysts expect that AudioCodes will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,309 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 75,653 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 151.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 9,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 91,287 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 9,150 shares during the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is 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.