Raymond James Issues Positive Forecast for Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock Price

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) had its target price raised by Raymond James from $17.00 to $23.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

AAOI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. B. Riley Financial restated a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.70.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

NASDAQ AAOI traded up $9.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $27.76. The company had a trading volume of 19,430,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,555,824. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of -13.48 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.79. Applied Optoelectronics has a twelve month low of $6.70 and a twelve month high of $27.81.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.28) earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $43.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.31) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David C. Kuo sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 132,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,996,473.42. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 90.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 75,981 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $630,000 after acquiring an additional 36,138 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth $1,319,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth $956,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the first quarter worth $1,123,000. 61.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.