Sterling Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 858.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Optoelectronics were worth $47,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,429,418 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $89,548,000 after buying an additional 241,594 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at $353,000. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 15.3% during the 4th 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 during the period. Affinity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the 4th quarter valued at $7,965,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.7% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total value of $46,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 196,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,533,157.86. This trade represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of AAOI stock opened at $12.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $637.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.21 and a beta of 2.57. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a one year low of $6.70 and a one year high of $44.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.83.

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

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.