Kovack Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 48.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 74,651 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 71,400 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Optoelectronics were worth $1,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong raised its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 380.6% in the fourth quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 637,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,311,000 after purchasing an additional 504,610 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,716,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 0.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 318,270 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,491,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the period. Acuitas Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,010,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,559,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin bought 11,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.66 per share, for a total transaction of $149,134.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,218,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,421,905.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Applied Optoelectronics news, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin purchased 11,780 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $12.66 per share, for a total transaction of $149,134.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,218,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,421,905.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Che-Wei Lin bought 31,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $12.70 per share, for a total transaction of $398,399.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 220,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,795,689.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $16.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “d” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.88.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI traded up $0.19 on Friday, reaching $10.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,510,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,528,569. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $14.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.84. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1.60 and a 52-week high of $24.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The semiconductor company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $60.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.19 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 25.75% and a negative return on equity of 13.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.27) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells fiber-optic networking products in the United States, Taiwan, and China. It offers optical modules, optical filters, lasers, laser components, subassemblies, transmitters and transceivers, turn-key equipment, headend, node, distribution equipment, and amplifiers.