Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Insider David Kuo Sells 17,467 Shares of Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) insider David Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $876,319.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,602,132.71. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AAOI opened at $48.40 on Thursday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.71 and a 1 year high of $50.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.03 and a beta of 3.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.31. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.18.

Applied Optoelectronics News Roundup

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

• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for Feb. 10–11 shows a “large increase” but the published figures read 0 shares/NaN and a 0.0 days ratio, indicating a reporting error or delay — not actionable until corrected.
• Negative Sentiment: Director David C. Kuo sold a total of 20,000 shares across Feb. 10–11 at roughly $50 per share (2,533 at $50.00 and 17,467 at $50.17), generating about $1.00M and cutting his stake by double‑digit and single‑digit percentages in the reported filings. SEC filing – David C. Kuo sales
• Negative Sentiment: CFO Stefan J. Murry sold a total of 18,020 shares across Feb. 10–11 (6,327 at $49.17 and 11,693 at $50.25) for roughly $899k total, reducing his stake by a few percentage points per filings. Insider sales at current price levels are being read as profit‑taking after the stock’s recent strength. SEC filing – Stefan J. Murry sales

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AAOI. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Northland Securities set a $45.00 price objective on Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,982,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $173,696,000 after acquiring an additional 358,090 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,512,902 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,750,000 after purchasing an additional 146,639 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong boosted its position in Applied Optoelectronics by 410.7% during the 2nd quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong now owns 1,408,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,115 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,160,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,091,000 after buying an additional 435,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics in the third quarter worth $21,392,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Optoelectronics

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.