Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 652,945 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 63.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 379,331 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 652,945 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Applied Optoelectronics were worth $13,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 400,195 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,751,000 after purchasing an additional 73,112 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,333 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666 shares during the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 27,950 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 7,250 shares during the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,770,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 130.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 266,606 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,828,000 after purchasing an additional 150,770 shares during the last quarter. 61.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on AAOI shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. B. Riley upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total value of $46,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 196,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,533,157.86. This represents a 1.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 11,426 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.10, for a total transaction of $218,236.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 153,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,939,490. The trade was a 6.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,263 shares of company stock valued at $740,590. 4.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $18.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.07 and a beta of 2.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.66. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.70 and a 1 year high of $44.50. 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 Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $99.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.37 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 22.36% and a negative net margin of 38.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 145.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.31) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current year.

Applied Optoelectronics 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.