Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of Open Text Co. (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $27.20 and last traded at $27.42, with a volume of 725339 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $28.63.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on OTEX shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Open Text in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Open Text from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their target price on Open Text from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Open Text from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Open Text from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.55.

Open Text Stock Up 0.7 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.76 and a 200-day moving average of $30.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95 and a beta of 1.11.

Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) (TSE:OTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The software maker reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Open Text had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The business’s revenue was down 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Open Text Co. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Open Text Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.262 dividend. This is an increase from Open Text’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $1.05 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Open Text’s payout ratio is presently 60.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Open Text

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in Open Text by 236.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,834,835 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $55,059,000 after buying an additional 1,290,011 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Open Text by 25.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,578,835 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $167,277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118,479 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in shares of Open Text by 18.6% in the second quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,536,769 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $166,325,000 after purchasing an additional 867,978 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd raised its position in Open Text by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 15,702,510 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $471,415,000 after purchasing an additional 767,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Open Text by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,021,893 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $120,390,000 after buying an additional 599,790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.37% of the company’s stock.

About Open Text

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.