Global Trust Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 27,804 Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 27,804 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter worth about $21,392,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $19,738,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,624,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $119,915,000 after purchasing an additional 551,910 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 60.0% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,160,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,091,000 after buying an additional 435,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,057,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AAOI shares. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Optoelectronics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $103.91 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $73.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.74. The company has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -159.86 and a beta of 3.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.71 and a twelve month high of $128.96.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The business had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. Research analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total transaction of $3,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 233,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,420,204.50. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.13, for a total transaction of $2,903,770.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 82,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,277,046.19. The trade was a 25.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 326,333 shares of company stock worth $29,392,957. Insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc develops and manufactures high-speed fiber-optic networking products designed to support the growing bandwidth demands of data centers, telecommunications carriers and internet content providers. The company’s core offerings include pluggable optical transceiver modules, transponders and optical components that enable data transmission at rates ranging from 1G to 400G. These products are used to facilitate long-haul, metro and intra-data center connectivity, addressing the need for scalable, low-latency and energy-efficient solutions in modern network infrastructures.

The company’s product portfolio spans small-form factor pluggable modules such as SFP+, QSFP+ and QSFP28 units, as well as more advanced form factors like CFP2 and OSFP for ultra-high-speed applications.