Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Shares Down 5.5% Following Insider Selling

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)’s stock price dropped 5.5% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $170.21 and last traded at $170.0090. Approximately 5,695,520 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 9,847,798 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.83.

Specifically, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total value of $10,705,687.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at $11,287,001.81. This trade represents a 48.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAOI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned 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 6.3%

The firm has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a PE ratio of -240.02 and a beta of 3.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $146.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.03.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $151.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $173,696,000 after buying an additional 358,090 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 5,208.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,512,309 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,439,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446,150 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,229,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,188,630 shares during the period. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,700,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,293,000 after acquiring an additional 875,903 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $59,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,775 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.