Applied Optoelectronics' (AAOI) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Rosenblatt Securities

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $36.00 target price on the semiconductor company's stock. Rosenblatt Securities' price objective suggests a potential upside of 78.22% from the stock's current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics to $31.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. B. Riley raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Securities reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $25.80.

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Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of AAOI traded down $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,997,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,894,150. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.81 and a beta of 2.36. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $6.70 and a fifty-two week high of $44.50.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $100.27 million during 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.72, for a total transaction of $126,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 212,129 shares in the company, valued at $6,728,731.88. This represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 157,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,576,577. This trade represents a 5.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,298 shares of company stock worth $497,701 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAOI. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,019,000. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,145,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,331,000. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,645,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,354,000. Institutional investors 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.