Swiss National Bank Has $10.85 Million Stake in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank increased its Applied Optoelectronics stake by 9.8% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 128,300 shares valued at approximately $10.85 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 61.7% of AAOI.
• Company insiders sold significant shares, including 33,000 shares by the CFO and 59,000 by the CEO, with insiders selling about 500,215 shares worth $86.7 million over the past three months. The sales were disclosed as being used to cover tax obligations from vested equity awards.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: AAOI has an average “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $141.80. The company’s latest quarter missed EPS and revenue estimates despite 51.3% year-over-year revenue growth.

Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Free Report) by 9.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,300 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.16% of Applied Optoelectronics worth $10,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. Allworth Financial LP increased 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. NFSG Corp bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the first quarter valued at about $85,000. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position 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 worth $42,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.26, for a total value of $5,717,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 451,906 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $78,297,233.56. This trade represents a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 59,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $9,825,270.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,302,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $216,894,667.08. The trade was a 4.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 500,215 shares of company stock worth $86,658,774. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AAOI. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.80.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $100.15 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.83. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $150.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.64. The company has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -151.74 and a beta of 3.69. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.50 and a 52-week high of $233.67.

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

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.