AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of 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 volume of 99,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

AudioCodes Stock Performance

AUDC stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $10.52. 74,331 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 107,855. AudioCodes has a one year low of $7.70 and a one year high of $13.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.88 million, a PE ratio of 21.04 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.92.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.09. AudioCodes had a net margin of 6.32% and a return on equity of 10.47%. On average, equities analysts expect that AudioCodes will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

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

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 151.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the fourth quarter worth about $97,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the fourth quarter worth about $120,000. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 72.8% in the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 21,672 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 9,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the fourth quarter worth about $406,000. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AUDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AudioCodes from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

AudioCodes Company Profile

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.