Raymond James Cuts Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Price Target to $18.00

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) had its price objective reduced by Raymond James from $20.00 to $18.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. B. Riley raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

NASDAQ AAOI opened at $14.67 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Applied Optoelectronics has a 12-month low of $6.70 and a 12-month high of $44.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $814.39 million, a P/E ratio of -7.12 and a beta of 2.55.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released its quarterly 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. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 38.61% and a negative return on equity of 22.36%. The business had revenue of $99.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.37 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.31) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 145.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total transaction of $46,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 196,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,533,157.86. The trade was a 1.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 14.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,779,563 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,666,000 after purchasing an additional 350,145 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 979,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,123,000 after purchasing an additional 70,210 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 182.7% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 976,520 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,990,000 after purchasing an additional 631,128 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 15.2% during the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 876,543 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,455,000 after purchasing an additional 115,853 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at $31,331,000. 61.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.