Richard B. Black Sells 10,000 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $290,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 157,813 shares in the company, valued at $4,576,577. This represents a 5.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $31.03 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.06 and a beta of 2.39. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a one year low of $6.70 and a one year high of $44.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.61.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter worth $19,019,000. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $16,145,000. Shellback Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter worth about $8,617,000. Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 47.7% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,596,545 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,847,000 after acquiring an additional 515,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JAT Capital Mgmt LP purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,470,000. 61.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAOI. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $17.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Northland Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $27.50 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $14.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.20.

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.