Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) Short Interest Up 37.9% in February

Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,390,000 shares, an increase of 37.9% from the February 13th total of 5,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 972,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.6 days. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Open Text from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on Open Text from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut Open Text from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Open Text in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Open Text from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Open Text currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.18.

Institutional Trading of Open Text

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Open Text by 3.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,093 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Open Text by 40.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,373 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Open Text by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,564 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Open Text by 103.8% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,011 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Open Text by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 26,477 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $750,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.37% of the company’s stock.

Open Text Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:OTEX traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.77. 104,653 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 739,553. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 1.17. Open Text has a one year low of $24.86 and a one year high of $40.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.83.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.10. Open Text had a return on equity of 23.23% and a net margin of 12.21%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Open Text will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.2625 per share. This represents a $1.05 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Open Text’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.68%.

About Open Text

Open Text Corporation provides information management software and solutions. The company offers content services, which includes content collaboration and intelligent capture to records management, collaboration, e-signatures, and archiving; and operates experience cloud platform that provides customer experience and web content management, digital asset management, customer analytics, AI and insights, e-discovery, digital fax, omnichannel communications, secure messaging, and voice of customer, as well as customer journey, testing, and segmentation.