AudioCodes' (AUDC) "Buy" Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $12.50 price target on the communications equipment provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target would indicate a potential upside of 53.37% from the company's previous close.

AUDC has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AudioCodes from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 26th.

AudioCodes Trading Down 12.2 %

NASDAQ:AUDC opened at $8.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $241.89 million, a PE ratio of 16.30 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.79. AudioCodes has a 12 month low of $7.70 and a 12 month high of $12.72.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.09. AudioCodes had a return on equity of 10.47% and a net margin of 6.32%. Research analysts forecast that AudioCodes will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AUDC. Value Base Ltd. bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes during the fourth quarter worth $19,665,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 95.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 104,037 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 50,704 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of AudioCodes by 55.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 527,768 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $5,187,000 after purchasing an additional 188,074 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 151.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in shares of AudioCodes by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 107,475 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 31,622 shares in the last quarter. 68.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.