Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Amdocs Call Options (NASDAQ:DOX)

Amdocs Limited (NASDAQ:DOX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 3,620 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,747% compared to the average daily volume of 196 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Amdocs by 38.6% during the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,329,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $213,174,000 after purchasing an additional 648,693 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Amdocs by 32.1% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,359,779 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $193,620,000 after purchasing an additional 573,349 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its stake in Amdocs by 500.0% in the third quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 420,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,461,000 after purchasing an additional 350,000 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Amdocs by 43.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 955,158 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $86,719,000 after purchasing an additional 287,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Amdocs by 18.0% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,879,023 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,803,000 after purchasing an additional 287,235 shares in the last quarter. 92.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Amdocs from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Amdocs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Amdocs from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Amdocs in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Amdocs in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.00.

Amdocs Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of DOX opened at $81.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.43. Amdocs has a 12-month low of $74.32 and a 12-month high of $95.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $79.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Amdocs Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.527 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Amdocs’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.78%.

Amdocs Company Profile

Amdocs (NASDAQ: DOX) is a global software and services provider specializing in solutions for communications, media and entertainment companies. The company designs, develops and integrates revenue management, customer experience and digital services platforms that enable service providers to launch and monetize new offerings, streamline operations and enhance subscriber engagement. Amdocs’ product suite encompasses billing and order management, customer relationship management, digital commerce and network function virtualization, supported by professional services for implementation, integration and managed operations.

Founded in 1982 and structured as a separate public company in 1998, Amdocs has its corporate headquarters in Chesterfield, Missouri, and maintains major development centers in Ra’anana, Israel.