Insider Selling: Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Sells $421,320.00 in Stock

Key Points

• CFO Stefan Murry sold 4,000 AAOI shares at an average price of $105.33, generating $421,320. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and reduced his holdings by 1.08%.
• Applied Optoelectronics shares fell 4.3% to $103.29, while the company reported quarterly revenue growth of 86.3% and earnings of $0.06 per share, beating analyst expectations.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $139.40; institutional investors own 61.7% of the company.

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) CFO Stefan Murry sold 4,000 shares of Applied Optoelectronics stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total transaction of $421,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 367,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $38,673,805.44. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 4.3%

NASDAQ:AAOI traded down $4.64 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $103.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,659,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,485,839. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.13. The company has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -132.42 and a beta of 3.79. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a one year low of $18.50 and a one year high of $233.67. The business's 50-day moving average is $115.09 and its 200-day moving average is $131.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.48 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.16) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 86.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.260 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAOI. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 23.2% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 70,464 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,961,000 after purchasing an additional 13,265 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,719,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at $955,672,000. Andar Capital Management HK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 1st quarter valued at $11,335,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the 1st quarter valued at $4,125,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAOI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. 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 note on Friday, August 7th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $139.40.

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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