Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Sells $46,120.00 in Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,533,157.86. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Up 4.6 %

NASDAQ:AAOI traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $21.13. The stock had a trading volume of 2,680,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,202,109. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of -10.26 and a beta of 2.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.95. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.70 and a 1-year high of $44.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $100.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.92 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 22.36% and a negative net margin of 38.61%. Analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on AAOI shares. StockNews.com upgraded Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. B. Riley raised 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. Northland Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at $1,109,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter worth about $19,019,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at about $353,000. Affinity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,965,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 887,259 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $12,697,000 after buying an additional 192,308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% 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.