Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 652,945 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 63.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 379,331 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 652,945 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.81% of Applied Optoelectronics worth $13,982,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,429,418 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $89,548,000 after acquiring an additional 241,594 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 979,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,123,000 after acquiring an additional 70,210 shares in the last quarter. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter worth about $27,645,000. Emerald Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 606,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,374,000 after acquiring an additional 80,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 400,195 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,751,000 after acquiring an additional 73,112 shares in the last quarter. 61.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAOI. StockNews.com raised Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Applied Optoelectronics to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, B. Riley raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.00.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of AAOI opened at $18.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.07 and a beta of 2.55. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.70 and a 52 week high of $44.50.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $99.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.37 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 22.36% and a negative net margin of 38.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 145.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.31) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total transaction of $46,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 196,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,533,157.86. The trade was a 1.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 11,426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.10, for a total value of $218,236.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 153,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,939,490. This represents a 6.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,263 shares of company stock valued at $740,590. Corporate insiders own 4.96% 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.