Insider Selling: Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Sells 33,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Applied Optoelectronics CFO Stefan Murry sold 33,000 shares on May 19 at an average price of $173.26, a transaction worth about $5.7 million. The company said the sale was to cover tax withholding tied to vesting equity awards.
• The stock has been volatile after a strong run-up, trading down to $171.33 in the article and sitting well above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. AAOI has ranged from a 52-week low of $15.06 to a high of $233.67.
• Investor focus remains on growth and dilution risk: the company recently filed for a $600 million at-the-market offering, while analysts remain mixed but generally constructive on long-term demand for AI optical infrastructure and high-speed optics.

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) CFO Stefan Murry sold 33,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

Applied Optoelectronics stock traded down $1.93 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $171.33. 8,941,358 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,914,948. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $135.43 and a 200 day moving average of $73.08. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.06 and a 1-year high of $233.67. The company has a market capitalization of $13.75 billion, a PE ratio of -259.59 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.98 million. Applied Optoelectronics had a negative return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 8.55%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.02) EPS. Applied Optoelectronics has set its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.030-0.030 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Optoelectronics News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Optoelectronics this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin sold 58,000 shares, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 33,000 shares, and other insiders also sold stock, but the company said the transactions were tied to tax withholding on equity award vesting.
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Optoelectronics recently filed a prospectus supplement for a $600 million at-the-market stock offering, which raised investor concerns about potential dilution and added a near-term overhang.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains constructive overall, with recent buy ratings and a bullish thesis tied to strong hyperscaler demand for AI optical infrastructure and expanding demand for 800G and 1.6T optics.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has also been hit by profit-taking after a sharp run-up, with market commentary noting that AAOI and other AI optics names are pulling back as investors lock in gains.

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 1.4% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,072 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,529,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,386 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.9% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 7,503 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 16,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 1,923.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 769 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AAOI. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Northland Securities restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.80.

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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