Richard B. Black Sells 10,000 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.27, for a total transaction of $352,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 167,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,918,764.51. This represents a 5.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 4.7 %

Shares of AAOI stock opened at $32.39 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.70 and a twelve month high of $44.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.45. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.72 and a beta of 2.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley cut shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $17.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Northland Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $27.50 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 90.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 75,981 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 36,138 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter valued at $1,109,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth $1,319,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth $19,019,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at $353,000. 61.72% of the stock is 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.