Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 551,910 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,624,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 551,910 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 7.41% of Applied Optoelectronics worth $119,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $235,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 56.7% during the third quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC now owns 21,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $545,000 after purchasing an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth $1,279,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $195,000 after buying an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,750 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 1,828 shares in the last quarter. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total value of $876,319.39. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares in the company, valued at $5,602,132.71. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total transaction of $587,573.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 290,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,575,012.50. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,520 shares of company stock valued at $3,080,367. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $99.71 on Thursday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.71 and a 52 week high of $110.00. The company has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of -153.40 and a beta of 3.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $45.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $134.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The business’s revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. 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. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. B. Riley Financial upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.80.

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.