Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI Shares Sold by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase cut its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 70.1% in Q3, selling 80,408 shares and retaining 34,242 shares (about $888,000), while institutional ownership remains high at 61.7% with new large stakes added by firms like Penn Capital and Alyeska.
• Company insiders have been net sellers, offloading 326,333 shares worth roughly $29.4 million over the past 90 days, including Director Elizabeth Loboa (102,347 shares) and Hung‑Lun (Fred) Chang (36,400 shares).
• Analysts are mixed with a consensus "Hold" and $52.80 price target; the stock recently traded near $150 despite a negative P/E, after the company beat quarterly revenue and EPS estimates but issued cautious Q1 guidance of -$0.09 to $0.00 and projected a negative full‑year EPS.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) by 70.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,242 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 80,408 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.05% of Applied Optoelectronics worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Penn Capital Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,057,000. Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,251,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 260.9% in the third quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 11,884 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 8,591 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $19,738,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter valued at approximately $95,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. B. Riley Financial upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $54.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Elizabeth G. Loboa sold 102,347 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.76, for a total value of $9,800,748.72. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,523 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,965,282.48. The trade was a 83.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 36,400 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.25, for a total transaction of $3,649,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 233,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,420,204.50. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 326,333 shares of company stock worth $29,392,957. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company's stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

Shares of AAOI opened at $150.60 on Friday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $82.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.32. The firm has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a PE ratio of -231.69 and a beta of 3.23. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.71 and a 12-month high of $154.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The business had revenue of $134.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $131.56 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 8.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q1 2026 guidance at -0.090-0.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 EPS for the current 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.

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