Principal Financial Group Inc. Takes $669,000 Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,910 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $669,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,415 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter valued at approximately $377,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 36.0% during the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 50.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 60,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,562,000 after acquiring an additional 20,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth approximately $952,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $5,717,580.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 451,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,297,233.56. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total transaction of $10,705,687.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 59,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,287,001.81. The trade was a 48.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 501,500 shares of company stock worth $86,812,999. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $94.32 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.50 and a 52 week high of $233.67. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $142.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.97. The company has a market cap of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of -142.91 and a beta of 3.69.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company 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 firm earned ($0.02) EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AAOI shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.80.

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.