465,288 Shares in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI Purchased by Next Century Growth Investors LLC

Next Century Growth Investors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 465,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,220,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 16,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,519 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 58,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $10,049,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,255,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $390,821,369.18. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $5,717,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 451,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,297,233.56. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 335,233 shares of company stock worth $54,707,470. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AAOI shares. 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 report 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 report on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 2.2%

AAOI opened at $169.05 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a one year low of $15.29 and a one year high of $233.67. The company has a market cap of $13.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -256.14 and a beta of 3.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.99.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. The company’s 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, equities research analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.