Rosenblatt Securities Reaffirms Buy Rating for Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Rosenblatt Securities reissued their buy rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $20.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on AAOI. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $9.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Raymond James raised Applied Optoelectronics from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $17.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. B. Riley cut their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Applied Optoelectronics to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $13.75.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAOI opened at $17.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.06. Applied Optoelectronics has a 1-year low of $6.66 and a 1-year high of $24.75. The firm has a market cap of $694.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.81 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by $0.01. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 19.82% and a negative net margin of 34.84%. The business had revenue of $43.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.31) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider David C. Kuo sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $150,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 132,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,996,473.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Connective Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at about $250,000. Shellback Capital LP purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at about $8,617,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at about $118,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 90.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 75,981 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $630,000 after purchasing an additional 36,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP raised its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 550.5% during the second quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 411,054 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,408,000 after purchasing an additional 347,867 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.