Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 1,685,400 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 160% from the previous session’s volume of 648,444 shares.The stock last traded at $30.34 and had previously closed at $30.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OTEX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Open Text from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Securities dropped their price target on Open Text from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. National Bank Financial downgraded Open Text from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Open Text from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Open Text from $42.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Open Text currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.90.

Open Text Trading Up 1.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.35 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $31.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.02.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The software maker reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.13. Open Text had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 8.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Open Text Co. will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.262 dividend. This represents a $1.05 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This is a boost from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Open Text’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Open Text

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of OTEX. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Open Text in the 3rd quarter worth $8,011,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new position in Open Text in the third quarter worth about $1,467,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Open Text in the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,509,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its holdings in shares of Open Text by 105.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 39,885 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after buying an additional 20,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Open Text by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 2,342,166 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $77,947,000 after buying an additional 50,348 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.37% of the company’s stock.

About Open Text

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.