Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC reduced its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) by 21.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,691 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 51,072 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 0.39% of Applied Optoelectronics worth $6,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 3.4% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,667 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 2.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,814 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,557,000 after buying an additional 3,081 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 24.3% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 15,862 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 3,097 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 60,348 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,224,000 after buying an additional 5,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter valued at about $82,000. 61.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $290,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 157,813 shares in the company, valued at $4,576,577. This trade represents a 5.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,298 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 209,831 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,379,756.27. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,250 shares of company stock worth $1,976,264 over the last three months. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AAOI shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $27.50 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Northland Securities reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $17.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, B. Riley lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $14.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $29.20.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 1.7 %

AAOI traded down $0.46 on Friday, hitting $27.04. The company had a trading volume of 7,229,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,154,218. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.70 and a 52-week high of $44.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.13 and a beta of 2.36.

About Applied Optoelectronics

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.