First Trust Advisors LP Sells 25,745 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 216,265 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 25,745 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Applied Optoelectronics were worth $18,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 358,090 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,446,150 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 5,321.6% during 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 buying an additional 2,188,630 shares in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its position 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 worth $59,293,000 after buying an additional 875,903 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew 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 buying an additional 1,038,775 shares during the period. 61.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.80.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 1,285 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.02, for a total transaction of $154,225.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 392,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,158,498.44. This trade represents a 0.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 40,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.60, for a total transaction of $6,880,127.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 286,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,812,754.40. This represents a 12.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 501,500 shares of company stock worth $86,812,999 in the last ninety days. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 13.2%

NASDAQ AAOI opened at $76.52 on Thursday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.50 and a 12 month high of $233.67. The stock has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -115.94 and a beta of 3.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $145.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.72. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.55% and a negative return on equity of 4.64%. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.