Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Insider Sells $5,826,733.80 in Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 33,630 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $5,826,733.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 391,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,874,605. The trade was a 7.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 16th, Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total transaction of $3,649,100.00.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Up 7.0%

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $176.81 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.99. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.06 and a 12-month high of $233.67. 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 stock has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -267.89 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. The company’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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, May 8th. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its position 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 buying an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. NFSG Corp purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 1st quarter worth $85,000. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position 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 buying an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.