AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC – Get Rating) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 70,400 shares, a drop of 5.4% from the February 13th total of 74,400 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 106,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AUDC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of AudioCodes in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AudioCodes currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.75.

AudioCodes Stock Performance

AUDC opened at $14.24 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $450.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.37, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.63 and a 200 day moving average of $19.11. AudioCodes has a fifty-two week low of $13.96 and a fifty-two week high of $27.86.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 17th. This represents a yield of 2%. AudioCodes’s payout ratio is 41.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AudioCodes

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. lifted its position in AudioCodes by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,012,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,616,000 after purchasing an additional 64,248 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AudioCodes by 0.8% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,634,218 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,642,000 after purchasing an additional 13,022 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in AudioCodes by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,501,519 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,862,000 after purchasing an additional 93,981 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Dash Investments Ltd. lifted its position in AudioCodes by 23.1% during the third quarter. Meitav Dash Investments Ltd. now owns 1,226,471 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,963,000 after purchasing an additional 230,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AudioCodes by 6.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 799,377 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $17,434,000 after purchasing an additional 48,250 shares during the last quarter. 44.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AudioCodes Company Profile

(Get Rating)

AudioCodes Ltd. is engaged in the provision of communications software, products and productivity solutions for the digital workplace. The firm involves in the development, manufacture, and market of products for transferring voice and data over the internet. Its products include products for Microsoft 365, session border controllers, multi-service business routers, meeting rooms, internet protocol phones, digital and analog media gateways, management products and solutions, and voice applications.