AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Given New $12.50 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC - Free Report) had its price target boosted by Needham & Company LLC from $11.00 to $12.50 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the communications equipment provider's stock.

AUDC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised AudioCodes from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday.

AudioCodes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AUDC traded down $0.15 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $12.22. The company had a trading volume of 114,606 shares, compared to its average volume of 121,751. The stock has a market cap of $369.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.44 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.83. AudioCodes has a one year low of $7.70 and a one year high of $14.04.

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

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a yield of 3%. AudioCodes's payout ratio is currently 72.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Senvest Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 1.5% in the third quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 2,580,448 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,108,000 after acquiring an additional 37,080 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in AudioCodes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,618,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 95.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 104,037 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 50,704 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AudioCodes by 11.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 9,150 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes during the third quarter valued at approximately $595,000. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.