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

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.45, for a total transaction 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 approximately $76,793,483.70. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.07, for a total transaction of $2,050,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 452,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,779,820.10. The trade was a 2.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In other news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.07, for a total transaction of $800,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 387,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,577,142.50. This trade represents a 1.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAOI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 2.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -256.14 and a beta of 3.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $163.82 and its 200-day moving average is $91.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,386 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 16,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. 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.