Insider Selling: Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Sells 2,000 Shares of Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total transaction of $21,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 235,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,583,948.15. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ AAOI traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,060,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,113,998. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.70 and a twelve month high of $44.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $18.61 and a 200 day moving average of $24.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $531.41 million, a P/E ratio of -5.17 and a beta of 2.57.

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

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,429,418 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $89,548,000 after acquiring an additional 241,594 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 979,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,123,000 after purchasing an additional 70,210 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 182.7% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 976,520 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,990,000 after buying an additional 631,128 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 887,259 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,697,000 after buying an additional 192,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,331,000. Institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAOI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James cut their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $31.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.60.

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.