Rosenblatt Securities Cuts Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Price Target to $30.00

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) had its target price decreased by Rosenblatt Securities from $36.00 to $30.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AAOI. B. Riley raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $31.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.40.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $12.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $637.59 million, a P/E ratio of -6.21 and a beta of 2.57. Applied Optoelectronics has a 12-month low of $6.70 and a 12-month high of $44.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $17.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.83.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total value of $46,120.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 196,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,533,157.86. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,429,418 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $89,548,000 after purchasing an additional 241,594 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 606,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,374,000 after purchasing an additional 80,539 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter worth about $7,965,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 27.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 887,259 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,697,000 after purchasing an additional 192,308 shares during the last quarter. 61.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.