Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.60.

Several analysts have issued reports on AAOI shares. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Northland Securities set a $45.00 price objective on Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, December 11th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $876,319.39. Following the transaction, the insider owned 111,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,602,132.71. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $587,573.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 290,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,575,012.50. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 66,520 shares of company stock worth $3,080,367 over the last ninety days. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,439,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446,150 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,630 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 410.7% during the second quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 1,408,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,115 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $59,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,775 shares during the period. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $59,293,000 after purchasing an additional 875,903 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 8.1%

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $46.98 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics has a fifty-two week low of $9.71 and a fifty-two week high of $50.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.59 and a beta of 3.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.31.

About Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc develops and manufactures high-speed fiber-optic networking products designed to support the growing bandwidth demands of data centers, telecommunications carriers and internet content providers. The company’s core offerings include pluggable optical transceiver modules, transponders and optical components that enable data transmission at rates ranging from 1G to 400G. These products are used to facilitate long-haul, metro and intra-data center connectivity, addressing the need for scalable, low-latency and energy-efficient solutions in modern network infrastructures.

The company’s product portfolio spans small-form factor pluggable modules such as SFP+, QSFP+ and QSFP28 units, as well as more advanced form factors like CFP2 and OSFP for ultra-high-speed applications.