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

ARK Investment Management LLC decreased 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 firm owned 185,117 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,421 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AudioCodes were worth $1,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of AudioCodes by 151.8% during the fourth 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. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in AudioCodes in the fourth quarter valued at about $97,000. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 9,133 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in AudioCodes by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,309 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of AudioCodes during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $595,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.05% of the company’s stock.

AudioCodes Trading Up 0.2 %

AUDC stock opened at $11.25 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.90. AudioCodes Ltd. has a 12-month low of $7.70 and a 12-month high of $14.04. The firm has a market cap of $339.94 million, a P/E ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 0.80.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.09. AudioCodes had a net margin of 6.32% and a return on equity of 10.47%. On average, research analysts forecast that AudioCodes Ltd. will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a yield of 3%. AudioCodes’s payout ratio is currently 72.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AudioCodes from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of AudioCodes from $11.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report 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.