Emerald Advisers LLC Acquires 80,539 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Emerald Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 606,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 80,539 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Applied Optoelectronics were worth $22,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 3.4% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 14,667 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,246 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 25,529 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $941,000 after purchasing an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 16,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,814 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,081 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total transaction of $46,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 196,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,533,157.86. This represents a 1.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $290,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 157,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,576,577. This represents a 5.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,298 shares of company stock worth $543,821. Insiders own 4.96% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 3.1 %

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $20.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $24.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.04. 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 cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.92 and a beta of 2.36. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.70 and a twelve month high of $44.50.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $100.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.92 million. On average, analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. B. Riley raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.80.

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.