AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Announces Half year 25 Dividend of $0.20

Key Points

• AudioCodes Ltd. announced a half year 25 dividend of $0.20, with payment scheduled for August 28th to stockholders of record by August 14th.
• The company has a dividend payout ratio of 46.8%, indicating that its dividend is well-covered by earnings, and is expected to maintain a 40.0%% payout ratio next year.
• Hedge funds and institutional investors hold approximately 68.05% of AudioCodes’ stock, with notable increases in stakes from firms like Jane Street Group and Cubist Systematic Strategies.

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC - Get Free Report) announced a half year 25 dividend on Tuesday, July 29th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the communications equipment provider on Thursday, August 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 350.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th.

AudioCodes has a payout ratio of 46.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect AudioCodes to earn $0.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.0%.

AudioCodes Stock Performance

AUDC traded down $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $9.68. 133,192 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 101,399. The stock has a market cap of $287.30 million, a P/E ratio of 21.51 and a beta of 0.89. AudioCodes has a twelve month low of $7.70 and a twelve month high of $12.72. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $9.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AudioCodes in the fourth quarter valued at about $406,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 527,768 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $5,187,000 after acquiring an additional 188,074 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 190,338 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 30,611 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings 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 worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the fourth quarter worth about $120,000. Institutional investors own 68.05% of the company's stock.

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.