AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) EVP Lior Aldema Sells 2,813 Shares of Stock

AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) EVP Lior Aldema sold 2,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.71, for a total transaction of $24,501.23. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 75,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $661,437.40. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

AudioCodes Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ AUDC opened at $8.80 on Thursday. AudioCodes Ltd. has a 52 week low of $6.95 and a 52 week high of $11.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39 and a beta of 0.97.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.16. AudioCodes had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 6.46%. The firm had revenue of $62.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.00 million.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AudioCodes

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AUDC. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AudioCodes during the second quarter worth about $43,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in AudioCodes by 3,621.4% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,294 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 7,098 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in AudioCodes in the second quarter valued at approximately $127,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AudioCodes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Finally, SIH Partners LLLP purchased a new stake in AudioCodes in the third quarter valued at approximately $170,000. 68.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of AudioCodes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.