First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stake in Amdocs Limited $DOX

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Amdocs Limited (NASDAQ:DOX) by 13.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,077,258 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 131,197 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Amdocs were worth $70,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of DOX. Saturna Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Amdocs during the 1st quarter valued at about $274,000. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Amdocs in the 1st quarter worth approximately $338,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Amdocs by 19.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,463,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $226,045,000 after acquiring an additional 571,036 shares in the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in Amdocs in the first quarter valued at approximately $647,000. Finally, Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Amdocs during the first quarter valued at approximately $444,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DOX shares. Cfra cut shares of Amdocs to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Amdocs in a research note on Friday, May 8th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Amdocs in a report on Monday, June 29th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Amdocs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Amdocs from $88.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.67.

Amdocs Stock Up 2.5%

DOX stock opened at $52.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.19. The company has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.41. Amdocs Limited has a twelve month low of $49.74 and a twelve month high of $90.29.

Amdocs (NASDAQ:DOX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The technology company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.01. Amdocs had a net margin of 11.81% and a return on equity of 19.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Amdocs Limited will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amdocs Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.569 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Amdocs’s dividend payout ratio is 45.60%.

About Amdocs

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.