Trexquant Investment LP Has $1.05 Million Stake in AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC)

Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC - Free Report) by 41.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,475 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 31,622 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.36% of AudioCodes worth $1,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Value Base Ltd. bought a new position in AudioCodes during the 4th quarter valued at $19,665,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 50,704 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the third quarter worth approximately $595,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 188,074 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of AudioCodes by 151.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AUDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AudioCodes from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays upped their price target on AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th.

AudioCodes Price Performance

AUDC traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $9.15. 44,829 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 84,884. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $10.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.82. AudioCodes Ltd. has a one year low of $7.70 and a one year high of $12.72. The company has a market cap of $271.69 million, a PE ratio of 18.14 and a beta of 1.09.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts expect that AudioCodes Ltd. will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 3%. AudioCodes's payout ratio is presently 72.00%.

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.