Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Upgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.75.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAOI stock opened at $17.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $678.56 million, a P/E ratio of -9.58 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $13.97 and its 200 day moving average is $11.37. Applied Optoelectronics has a 12-month low of $6.70 and a 12-month high of $24.75.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.28) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $43.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.14 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 19.82% and a negative net margin of 34.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.31) EPS. Research analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David C. Kuo sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $150,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 132,921 shares in the company, valued at $1,996,473.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Shellback Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter valued at about $8,617,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 9,687.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 853,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $16,498,000 after purchasing an additional 845,223 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,954,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,089,000 after buying an additional 442,277 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 550.5% during the second quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 411,054 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,408,000 after buying an additional 347,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 30.0% in the first quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 1,333,957 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $18,489,000 after buying an additional 308,172 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

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.