Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Takes $287,000 Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Key Points

• Sovereign Financial Group Inc. has acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics, purchasing 11,163 shares worth approximately $287,000 in the second quarter, according to a 13F filing with the SEC.
• CEO Chih-Hsiang Lin purchased 8,850 shares for about $199,390 on August 13th, while insider Hung-Lun Chang sold 15,784 shares for $358,297 on the same day, indicating active insider trading.
• Applied Optoelectronics reported a loss of $0.16 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates, despite a significant year-over-year revenue increase of 137.9%.

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,163 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,455,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 14.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,779,563 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $42,666,000 after buying an additional 350,145 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 15.2% during the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 876,543 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $13,455,000 after buying an additional 115,853 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the first quarter worth approximately $1,643,000. Finally, Quantitative Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the first quarter worth approximately $1,049,000. 61.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Applied Optoelectronics

In other Applied Optoelectronics news, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin purchased 8,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $22.53 per share, for a total transaction of $199,390.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,652,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,223,277.45. The trade was a 0.54% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang sold 15,784 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.70, for a total value of $358,296.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 256,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,818,600.20. This trade represents a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 44,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,000,878 and have sold 30,784 shares valued at $709,117. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AAOI. Northland Securities set a $30.00 price target on Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, July 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut Applied Optoelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. B. Riley reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $15.00 price target (up from $13.00) on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.20.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 16.1%

Shares of AAOI opened at $27.15 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.71 and a 12-month high of $44.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of -8.08 and a beta of 2.92. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $25.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.25.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.08). Applied Optoelectronics had a negative net margin of 42.29% and a negative return on equity of 10.60%. The company had revenue of $102.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $104.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.28) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 137.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2025 guidance at -0.100--0.030 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post -1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Optoelectronics Company Profile

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells fiber-optic networking products in the United States, Taiwan, and China. It offers optical modules, optical filters, lasers, laser components, subassemblies, transmitters and transceivers, turn-key equipment, headend, node, distribution equipment, and amplifiers.

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