Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Trading Down 9.9% – What’s Next?

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)’s share price traded down 9.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $14.36 and last traded at $14.26. 942,632 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 3,731,749 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAOI shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Northland Securities restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. B. Riley raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Monday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.40.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 6.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $748.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.32 and a beta of 2.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.72, for a total transaction of $126,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 212,129 shares in the company, valued at $6,728,731.88. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 157,813 shares in the company, valued at $4,576,577. The trade was a 5.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,298 shares of company stock valued at $850,401 over the last ninety days. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 858.2% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

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.