Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Receives $16.88 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the four research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.88.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “d” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $16.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $11.66 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Applied Optoelectronics has a one year low of $1.60 and a one year high of $24.75. The company has a market cap of $447.74 million, a PE ratio of -6.55 and a beta of 2.04.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The semiconductor company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 25.75% and a negative return on equity of 13.83%. The business had revenue of $60.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.27) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Che-Wei Lin acquired 31,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.70 per share, for a total transaction of $398,399.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 220,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,795,689.10. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Che-Wei Lin acquired 31,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.70 per share, for a total transaction of $398,399.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 220,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,795,689.10. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin acquired 11,780 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.66 per share, with a total value of $149,134.80. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,218,160 shares in the company, valued at $15,421,905.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,512,221 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,216,000 after purchasing an additional 200,163 shares in the last quarter. Oberweis Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 90.4% during the 4th quarter. Oberweis Asset Management Inc. now owns 891,915 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $17,232,000 after purchasing an additional 423,500 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 9,687.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 853,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $16,498,000 after purchasing an additional 845,223 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 380.6% during the 4th quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 637,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,311,000 after purchasing an additional 504,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at $9,716,000. 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.