AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Stock Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) shares crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $9.91 and traded as high as $10.35. AudioCodes shares last traded at $10.17, with a volume of 79,364 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted 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, February 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on AudioCodes from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th.

AudioCodes Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $307.31 million, a P/E ratio of 20.34 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.86 and a 200-day moving average of $9.91.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 6.32% and a return on equity of 10.47%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AudioCodes Ltd. will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. AudioCodes’s payout ratio is currently 72.00%.

Institutional Trading of AudioCodes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AudioCodes by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,309 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in shares of AudioCodes by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 75,653 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in AudioCodes by 151.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is currently 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.