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

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP reduced its Applied Optoelectronics stake by 10.6%, selling 25,745 shares and retaining 216,265 shares valued at approximately $18.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 61.7% of the company.
• Applied Optoelectronics reported a quarterly loss of $0.07 per share, missing estimates by $0.02, while revenue rose 51.3% year over year to $151.14 million but fell short of expectations.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $141.80; insiders also sold approximately 501,500 shares worth $86.8 million during the latest quarter.

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216,265 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 25,745 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.27% of Applied Optoelectronics worth $18,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% during 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 during the period. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 166.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,200 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter worth approximately $57,000. Institutional investors own 61.70% of the company's stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Shares of AAOI stock opened at $76.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -115.94 and a beta of 3.69. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.50 and a fifty-two week high of $233.67. The business's 50 day moving average price is $145.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, Director Cynthia Delaney sold 56,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.23, for a total value of $10,705,687.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 59,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,287,001.81. This represents a 48.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 39,154 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total transaction of $6,783,822.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 462,430 shares in the company, valued at $80,120,621.80. The trade was a 7.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 501,500 shares of company stock worth $86,812,999. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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