Insider Selling: Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Sells 4,000 Shares of Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.72, for a total transaction of $126,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 212,129 shares in the company, valued at $6,728,731.88. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of AAOI stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $31.03. The stock had a trading volume of 2,355,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,610,087. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.06 and a beta of 2.39. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a one year low of $6.70 and a one year high of $44.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.96.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $956,000. Rhumbline Advisers purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at approximately $449,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 616,701 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,113,000 after purchasing an additional 24,259 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $194,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 51.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 541,787 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,491,000 after purchasing an additional 183,260 shares during the last quarter. 61.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAOI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $27.50 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. B. Riley downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $14.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $17.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.20.

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.