Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) Hits New 52-Week Low – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $26.84 and last traded at $26.86, with a volume of 426034 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on OTEX. StockNews.com lowered shares of Open Text from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Open Text in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of Open Text from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Sunday, February 9th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Open Text from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Open Text from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.18.

Open Text Trading Down 2.3 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.46. The company has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.10. Open Text had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 23.23%. Research analysts anticipate that Open Text Co. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.2625 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. Open Text’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd grew its stake in Open Text by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 18,547,256 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $522,879,000 after buying an additional 1,957,695 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Open Text by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,275,908 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $205,925,000 after acquiring an additional 632,437 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in Open Text by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 6,308,967 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $178,670,000 after purchasing an additional 389,220 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Open Text by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,994,675 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $169,555,000 after purchasing an additional 2,586,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Open Text by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,642,455 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $187,952,000 after purchasing an additional 63,620 shares during the last quarter. 70.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Open Text Company Profile

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.