Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) Stock

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) had its price target increased by Barclays from $9.00 to $10.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an underweight rating on the communications equipment provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AUDC. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of AudioCodes in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com raised AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday.

AudioCodes Stock Up 6.6 %

Shares of AUDC stock opened at $11.36 on Wednesday. AudioCodes has a 12 month low of $7.70 and a 12 month high of $14.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.80. The firm has a market cap of $343.27 million, a PE ratio of 28.40 and a beta of 0.80.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 4.99% and a return on equity of 8.85%. On average, equities analysts predict that AudioCodes will post 0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in AudioCodes by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,309 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 1,419 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 151.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,624 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 25,683 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 7,009 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 72.8% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 21,672 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 9,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in AudioCodes by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 91,287 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $893,000 after acquiring an additional 9,150 shares during the period. 68.05% of the stock is owned by 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.