Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang Sells 33,630 Shares of 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 sale, the insider directly owned 391,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,874,605. The trade was a 7.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 Price Performance

Applied Optoelectronics stock opened at $171.33 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $13.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -259.59 and a beta of 3.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $135.43 and its 200 day moving average is $73.08. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.06 and a 52-week high of $233.67.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last released 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 business had revenue of $151.14 million for 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%. Applied Optoelectronics’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Applied Optoelectronics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Optoelectronics this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 58,000 shares, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares, and other insiders also sold stock, but the company said the transactions were tied to tax withholding on equity award vesting.
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Optoelectronics recently filed a prospectus supplement for a $600 million at-the-market stock offering, which raised investor concerns about potential dilution and added a near-term overhang.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive overall, with recent buy ratings and a bullish thesis tied to strong hyperscaler demand for AI optical infrastructure and expanding demand for 800G and 1.6T optics.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has also been hit by profit-taking after a sharp run-up, with market commentary noting that AAOI and other AI optics names are pulling back as investors lock in gains.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 2,415 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter worth approximately $377,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 36.0% in the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 50.0% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 60,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,562,000 after buying an additional 20,261 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter worth approximately $952,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAOI. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.80.

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.