AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Short Interest Down 33.0% in April

Key Points

• Short interest fell 33.0% in April to 68,318 shares (down from 101,977 on March 31), representing 0.5% of shares and a days-to-cover ratio of about 1.1.
• AudioCodes paid a $0.20 dividend on March 6; the article reports a very high 552.0% dividend yield and a dividend payout ratio of 129.03%, indicating an unusually large and potentially unsustainable payout versus earnings.
• In its latest quarter the company reported $0.16 EPS on $62.61 million in revenue, meeting estimates, while Wall Street’s consensus is a Hold with a $12.50 target (one Buy, two Holds).

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 68,318 shares, a drop of 33.0% from the March 31st total of 101,977 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 63,810 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days. Currently, 0.5% of the company's shares are sold short.

AudioCodes Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of AUDC opened at $8.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $240.28 million, a PE ratio of 28.61 and a beta of 0.97. The company's fifty day moving average is $8.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.61. AudioCodes has a fifty-two week low of $6.95 and a fifty-two week high of $11.50.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16. The company had revenue of $62.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.00 million. AudioCodes had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 6.46%.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 552.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. AudioCodes's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 129.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AudioCodes

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AUDC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the 1st quarter valued at $1,238,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 101.6% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 284,951 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 143,632 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 1,028,850 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $9,795,000 after purchasing an additional 138,300 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 41.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 186,983 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,632,000 after purchasing an additional 55,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 620,844 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $5,936,000 after acquiring an additional 53,266 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AUDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AudioCodes from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of AudioCodes in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $12.50.

About AudioCodes

AudioCodes Ltd is a global provider of advanced voice networking and media processing solutions for enterprises and service providers. The company designs and manufactures a comprehensive portfolio of products, including session border controllers (SBCs), media gateways, IP phones, management and monitoring software, and cloud-based communications microservices. Its offerings support a wide range of unified communications (UC) and contact center deployments, enabling secure, high-quality voice connectivity across on-premises, hybrid and cloud environments.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Rosh Ha'Ayin, Israel, AudioCodes serves customers in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

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