Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Gap Down Following Insider Selling

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $175.13, but opened at $167.56. Applied Optoelectronics shares last traded at $173.8580, with a volume of 2,968,144 shares trading hands.

Specifically, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.45, for a total value of $685,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 447,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,793,483.70. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.07, for a total value of $2,050,700.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 452,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,779,820.10. This represents a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In other Applied Optoelectronics news, 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 transaction of $800,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 387,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,577,142.50. The trade was a 1.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAOI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. B. Riley Financial raised Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 2.2%

The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -256.14 and a beta of 3.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $163.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.99.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.98 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.02) earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Shariaportfolio Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,855,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $723,000. BankChampaign National Association acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,755 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,518,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 70,464 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,961,000 after purchasing an additional 13,265 shares during the period. 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.