6,200 Shares in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Acquired by Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 6,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $19,019,000. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,145,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 909,559 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,018,000 after buying an additional 60,241 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 192,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,645,000. Institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 2,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.17, for a total value of $80,820.66. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 209,831 shares in the company, valued at $7,379,756.27. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard B. Black sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $290,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,298 shares of company stock worth $497,701. Insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday. B. Riley raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of AAOI opened at $22.11 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.73 and a beta of 2.36. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $6.70 and a 1-year high of $44.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $100.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.92 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 22.36% and a negative net margin of 38.61%. On average, research analysts forecast 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.