Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Insider Sells $4,867,172.31 in Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) insider David Kuo sold 29,227 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $4,867,172.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 149,078 shares in the company, valued at $24,825,959.34. This trade represents a 16.39% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 10.7%

NASDAQ AAOI traded down $20.49 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $171.06. 13,006,588 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,508,214. The business’s 50 day moving average is $165.57 and its 200-day moving average is $93.67. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.55 and a 12-month high of $233.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -259.18 and a beta of 3.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.The business had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $122,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,188,630 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,775 shares during the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,293,000 after buying an additional 875,903 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,923,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AAOI. B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC upped 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 restated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.80.

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.