B. Riley Downgrades Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) to Sell

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) was downgraded by equities research analysts at B. Riley from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $14.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock. B. Riley’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 58.43% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $20.00 to $27.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $17.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.70.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 1.8 %

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $33.68 on Tuesday. 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 $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.35 and a beta of 2.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.25 and a 200 day moving average of $15.56.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, Director Min-Chu (Mike) Chen sold 9,790 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $391,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 165,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,602,160. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 10,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $150,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 132,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,996,473.42. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 86,769 shares of company stock valued at $2,813,037. Insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 272.1% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,281 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 6,787 shares during the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 3,290.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,137 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 5,956 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth $89,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth $109,000. 61.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.