First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 632,437 Shares of Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,275,908 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 632,437 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Open Text were worth $205,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Open Text by 103.8% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,011 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Open Text by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,373 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in shares of Open Text in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Open Text by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,564 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Open Text during the 4th quarter worth approximately $105,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.37% of the company’s stock.

Open Text Stock Performance

OTEX opened at $25.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. Open Text Co. has a 52-week low of $22.79 and a 52-week high of $36.39. The firm has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s fifty day moving average is $26.00 and its 200-day moving average is $28.61.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.10. Open Text had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 23.23%. Sell-side analysts expect that Open Text Co. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.2625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.05 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. Open Text’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OTEX has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Open Text from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Open Text from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Open Text from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities lowered their target price on Open Text from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Sunday, February 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Open Text from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.18.

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.