Stefan Murry Sells 33,000 Shares of Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) Stock

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) CFO Stefan Murry sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total transaction of $5,495,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 384,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,043,441.28. This represents a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AAOI opened at $167.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $13.43 billion, a PE ratio of -253.55 and a beta of 3.66. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.90 and a 12-month high of $233.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.69. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last issued 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 firm’s revenue was up 51.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.02) earnings per share. 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $43.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.80.

Trending Headlines about Applied Optoelectronics

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

• Positive Sentiment: AAOI continues to benefit from trader enthusiasm around AI datacenter infrastructure and optical connectivity. Investors are still bidding up “AI plumbing” names that provide the fiber-optic gear needed for large-scale data centers. Article: Applied Optoelectronics Shares Are Climbing Monday: What’s Driving The Action?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several insiders, including the CEO, CFO, and other executives, sold shares on June 12. The company said these sales were made to cover tax withholding tied to vesting equity awards, which makes them less alarming than discretionary selling, but the cluster of filings may still create some short-term pressure on sentiment. Article: Insider filing for Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang Article: Insider filing for David C. Kuo Article: Insider filing for Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin Article: Insider filing for Stefan J. Murry Article: Insider filing for Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also highlighted a bearish comparison note from Jim Cramer, who favored Corning over Applied Optoelectronics. That could weigh on AAOI relative to peers in the optical networking space. Article: Jim Cramer Recommends Corning Over Applied Optoelectronics

Institutional Trading of Applied Optoelectronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAOI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,579 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 2,415 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter valued at about $377,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 36.0% in the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 50.0% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 60,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,562,000 after purchasing an additional 20,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter valued at about $952,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.70% of the company’s stock.

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.