Trexquant Investment LP Buys 31,622 Shares of AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC)

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in shares of AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) by 41.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 107,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,622 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in AudioCodes were worth $1,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AUDC. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in AudioCodes during the third quarter worth approximately $595,000. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AudioCodes by 72.8% during the third 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 last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in AudioCodes by 95.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 104,037 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 50,704 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in AudioCodes during the fourth quarter worth approximately $97,000. 68.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AUDC shares. StockNews.com raised AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays upped their target price on AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on AudioCodes from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th.

AudioCodes Stock Performance

AUDC opened at $8.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $256.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $10.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.84. AudioCodes Ltd. has a one year low of $7.70 and a one year high of $12.72.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts predict that AudioCodes Ltd. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a yield of 3%. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.00%.

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.