B. Riley Cuts Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Price Target to $9.00

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) had its target price decreased by analysts at B. Riley from $12.00 to $9.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. B. Riley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 25.52% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. B. Riley Financial decreased their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Applied Optoelectronics to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.25.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAOI traded down $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $7.17. The company had a trading volume of 2,457,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,448,553. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Applied Optoelectronics has a 12-month low of $6.66 and a 12-month high of $24.75. The stock has a market cap of $278.97 million, a PE ratio of -4.05 and a beta of 1.97. The business’s 50-day moving average is $9.36 and its 200 day moving average is $12.52.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.01. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 16.30% and a negative net margin of 30.65%. The company had revenue of $43.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.14 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.31) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics will post -0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AAOI. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 9,687.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 853,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $16,498,000 after purchasing an additional 845,223 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 875.9% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 631,799 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,757,000 after buying an additional 567,056 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong raised its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 380.6% in the fourth quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 637,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,311,000 after acquiring an additional 504,610 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 29.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,954,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,089,000 after acquiring an additional 442,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 30.0% in the first quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 1,333,957 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $18,489,000 after buying an additional 308,172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

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.