Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.00.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 0.4%

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $18.96 on Wednesday. Applied Optoelectronics has a 1-year low of $6.70 and a 1-year high of $44.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.20 and a beta of 2.55.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total transaction of $46,120.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 196,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,533,157.86. The trade was a 1.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 23,837 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.06, for a total transaction of $454,333.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 278,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,314,728.52. This trade represents a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,263 shares of company stock worth $740,590 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. Corebridge Financial Inc. boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 20,253 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $747,000 after buying an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,246 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 25,529 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $941,000 after buying an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. 61.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.