Rosenblatt Securities Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Rosenblatt Securities from $20.00 to $27.50 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target would indicate a potential downside of 0.76% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on AAOI. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $17.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. B. Riley Financial reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.70.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI traded up $9.81 during trading on Friday, hitting $27.71. 19,400,414 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,555,807. The business’s 50 day moving average is $15.27 and its 200-day moving average is $11.67. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.45 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Applied Optoelectronics has a 1-year low of $6.70 and a 1-year high of $27.81.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider David C. Kuo sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $150,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 132,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,996,473.42. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 29.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,954,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,089,000 after purchasing an additional 442,277 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 47.7% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,596,545 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,847,000 after purchasing an additional 515,489 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 6.5% during the first quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,439,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,950,000 after purchasing an additional 88,281 shares during the period. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 30.0% during the first quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 1,333,957 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $18,489,000 after purchasing an additional 308,172 shares during the period. Finally, Shellback Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at about $8,617,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Company 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.