Insider Selling: Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Insider Sells $3,331,270.02 in Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) insider David Kuo sold 19,227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $3,331,270.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 197,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,196,326.20. The trade was a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

NASDAQ AAOI opened at $176.81 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $14.19 billion, a PE ratio of -267.89 and a beta of 3.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $137.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.99. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.06 and a 12-month high of $233.67.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AAOI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 2,415 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter worth about $377,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 60,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,562,000 after purchasing an additional 20,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter worth about $952,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AAOI. B. Riley Financial raised shares of 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. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Three investment 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.80.

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.