AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) Shares Sold by ARK Investment Management LLC

ARK Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 185,117 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,421 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC owned 0.61% of AudioCodes worth $1,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AUDC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of AudioCodes during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,618,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in AudioCodes in the 3rd quarter valued at $595,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake 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 worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 50,704 shares during the period. Senvest Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 1.5% during the third quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 2,580,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,108,000 after purchasing an additional 37,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AudioCodes during the fourth quarter worth $97,000. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AudioCodes Stock Up 0.2 %

AUDC stock opened at $11.25 on Thursday. AudioCodes Ltd. has a 52 week low of $7.70 and a 52 week high of $14.04. The company has a market cap of $339.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.90.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last announced 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 return on equity of 10.47% and a net margin of 6.32%. As a group, analysts expect that AudioCodes Ltd. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a yield of 3%. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their target price on AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of AudioCodes from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AudioCodes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th.

AudioCodes 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.