Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Earns Buy Rating from Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities reissued their buy rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $36.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. B. Riley raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Securities restated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

AAOI stock opened at $22.11 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics has a 52-week low of $6.70 and a 52-week high of $44.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.73 and a beta of 2.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.50.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $100.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.92 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 22.36% and a negative net margin of 38.61%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $290,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 157,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,577. This represents a 5.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,298 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.17, for a total transaction of $80,820.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 209,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,379,756.27. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,298 shares of company stock worth $850,401 in the last ninety days. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth approximately $19,019,000. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,145,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at $31,331,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter worth $27,645,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth $23,354,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

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.