Nicholas Investment Partners LP Takes $6.68 Million Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Key Points

• Nicholas Investment Partners LP acquired 45,060 shares of Applied Optoelectronics, valued at approximately $6.68 million, while institutional investors collectively own 61.70% of the company.
• Applied Optoelectronics insiders sold 272,629 shares worth about $45.88 million over the past 90 days, including sales by the CEO and an insider partly related to tax obligations.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with an overall “Hold” rating and an average price target of $139.40. The company recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $191.92 million in revenue—up 86.3% year over year—and $0.06 in EPS.

Nicholas Investment Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 45,060 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $6,676,000. Nicholas Investment Partners LP owned 0.05% of Applied Optoelectronics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth approximately $9,416,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter worth approximately $3,228,000. Fiduciary Financial Advisors bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at $48,000. Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 110,843 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $16,422,000 after purchasing an additional 4,208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gallo Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at $715,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Applied Optoelectronics

In other news, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 40,329 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.60, for a total transaction of $6,880,127.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 286,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,812,754.40. The trade was a 12.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $9,825,270.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 272,629 shares of company stock worth $45,881,654. Insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AAOI shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. B. Riley Financial restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $139.40.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 13.8%

Shares of NASDAQ AAOI opened at $107.63 on Tuesday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.50 and a 12 month high of $233.67. The company has a market cap of $9.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -137.99 and a beta of 3.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.85.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.04. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 9.57% and a negative return on equity of 1.98%. The company had revenue of $191.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $190.48 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.16) earnings per share. The business'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. Sell-side analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

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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