Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Down 7.1% After Insider Selling

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) traded down 7.1% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $192.52 and last traded at $182.6420. 2,662,785 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 10,091,515 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.64.

Specifically, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.07, for a total transaction of $2,050,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 452,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,779,820.10. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.07, for a total value of $800,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 387,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,577,142.50. This trade represents a 1.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Min-Chu (Mike) Chen sold 8,247 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.00, for a total value of $1,657,647.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 161,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,371,653. This trade represents a 4.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAOI. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of -270.19 and a beta of 3.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.28.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.9% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey lifted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 16,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Applied Optoelectronics

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.