Insider Selling: Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Sells 3,000 Shares of Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.46, for a total transaction of $82,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 318,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,733,268.56. The trade was a 0.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 6.7%

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock traded down $1.88 on Tuesday, reaching $26.35. 5,035,236 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,766,149. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.83 and a beta of 2.78. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.70 and a 1-year high of $44.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $21.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.20.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.02. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 15.40% and a negative net margin of 55.98%. The firm had revenue of $99.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.37 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.31) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 145.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Corebridge Financial Inc. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 20,253 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 61,017 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $937,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 85.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,785 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 25,529 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.72% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on AAOI shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $24.80.

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.