Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Earns “Buy” Rating from Rosenblatt Securities

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Rosenblatt Securities in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $50.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target indicates a potential downside of 3.25% from the company’s previous close.

AAOI has been the topic of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Northland Securities set a $45.00 price target on Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, B. Riley Financial reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Monday, November 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.60.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 10.0%

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $51.68 on Thursday. Applied Optoelectronics has a fifty-two week low of $9.71 and a fifty-two week high of $54.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.05 and a beta of 3.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total value of $876,319.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 111,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,602,132.71. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total transaction of $587,573.25. Following the completion of 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,080,367. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

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

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.