Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Makes New Investment in AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes Ltd. (NASDAQ:AUDC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,342 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Senvest Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 159.5% in the third quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 2,546,011 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,740,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565,039 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 236.0% in the third quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 780,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,891,000 after purchasing an additional 548,200 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 865.3% in the second quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 566,911 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,176,000 after purchasing an additional 508,180 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AudioCodes by 460.9% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 447,529 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,006,000 after purchasing an additional 367,742 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of AudioCodes in the first quarter worth $6,208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.05% of the company’s stock.

AudioCodes Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ AUDC opened at $10.42 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.54. AudioCodes Ltd. has a 12-month low of $7.14 and a 12-month high of $14.45. The firm has a market cap of $315.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.21, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.80.

AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.04. AudioCodes had a net margin of 3.59% and a return on equity of 7.35%. The business had revenue of $63.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.18 million. Equities analysts expect that AudioCodes Ltd. will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AudioCodes Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.6%. AudioCodes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 128.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AUDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of AudioCodes from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 20th. Barclays increased their target price on AudioCodes from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on AudioCodes from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th.

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.