Short Interest in Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) Expands By 37.9%

Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX - Get Free Report) TSE: OTC was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,390,000 shares, an increase of 37.9% from the February 13th total of 5,360,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 972,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.6 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company's stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Open Text

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in Open Text by 208.2% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 140,726 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,985,000 after buying an additional 95,058 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Open Text during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $372,000. Twinbeech Capital LP purchased a new position in Open Text during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Open Text by 483.2% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 72,906 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,065,000 after buying an additional 60,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Open Text by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 18,238 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 5,100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.37% of the company's stock.

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Open Text Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OTEX traded up $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $26.31. 949,746 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 744,893. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Open Text has a 52-week low of $24.86 and a 52-week high of $40.55. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $27.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.79. The company has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 1.17.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX - Get Free Report) TSE: OTC last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.10. Open Text had a return on equity of 23.23% and a net margin of 12.21%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Open Text will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.2625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.05 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. This is a boost from Open Text's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Open Text's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on OTEX. Barclays increased their target price on Open Text from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities lowered their price target on Open Text from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Sunday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Open Text from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on Open Text from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Open Text in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.18.

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.