Legal & General Group Plc Takes $9.42 Million Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc acquired 63,555 shares of Applied Optoelectronics worth approximately $9.42 million, while institutional investors collectively own 61.7% of the company.
• Applied Optoelectronics exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.06 EPS versus a $0.02 consensus estimate and $191.92 million in revenue, up 86.3% year over year. The company guided for third-quarter EPS of $0.11–$0.26.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with an average “Hold” rating and a $139.40 consensus price target; the stock opened at $103.39, well below its 52-week high of $233.67.

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 63,555 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $9,416,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.08% of Applied Optoelectronics as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 40,329 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.60, for a total transaction of $6,880,127.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 286,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,812,754.40. This represents a 12.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 59,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $9,825,270.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,302,436 shares in the company, valued at $216,894,667.08. This represents a 4.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 264,382 shares of company stock valued at $44,224,007 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $103.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.13. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.50 and a 1 year high of $233.67. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $119.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.60. The company has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -132.55 and a beta of 3.79.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.04. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 1.98% and a negative net margin of 9.57%.The business had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $190.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.16) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 86.3% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AAOI. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $139.40.

Applied Optoelectronics 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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