Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Stefan Murry Sells 33,000 Shares

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Stefan Murry sold 33,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $5,495,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 384,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,043,441.28. This represents a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAOI opened at $170.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83. The company has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -258.80 and a beta of 3.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $166.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.69. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.55 and a 52-week high of $233.67.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AAOI. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating 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. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,446,150 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,188,630 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 157.1% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,699,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,775 shares during the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 106.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 875,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,923,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Optoelectronics News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: AAOI gained momentum on Monday as traders continued to bid up AI infrastructure and optical networking names, citing demand for “plumbing” that connects datacenters and the view that copper could become a bottleneck at scale. The move also came during a risk-on market backdrop. Article: Applied Optoelectronics Shares Are Climbing Monday: What’s Driving The Action?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several Applied Optoelectronics executives and insiders disclosed stock sales on June 12, including the CEO, CFO, and other officers. The company said the sales were made to cover tax withholding obligations tied to vesting equity awards, which makes them less concerning than open-market selling, but the number of filings may still weigh on sentiment. Article: Insider filing for Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang Article: Insider filing for David C. Kuo Article: Insider filing for Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin Article: Insider filing for Stefan J. Murry Article: Insider filing for Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also highlighted a bearish note from Jim Cramer, who recommended Corning over Applied Optoelectronics, which could pressure sentiment around AAOI relative to peers. Article: Jim Cramer Recommends Corning Over Applied Optoelectronics

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.