Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)

Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 13,854 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth about $1,109,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,019,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Affinity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,965,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 887,259 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $12,697,000 after acquiring an additional 192,308 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 9.1 %

Shares of AAOI stock opened at $22.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.82 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.20. 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 quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 38.61% and a negative return on equity of 22.36%. The firm had revenue of $100.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.92 million. Research analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $25.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. B. Riley upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $290,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 157,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,577. This represents a 5.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.72, for a total value of $126,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 212,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,728,731.88. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,298 shares of company stock valued at $543,821 in the last quarter. 4.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

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.