Rakuten Securities Inc. Takes $2.67 Million Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 17,986 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,665,000. Applied Optoelectronics accounts for 0.6% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new position in Applied Optoelectronics in the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Tema ETFs LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth $62,000. Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter worth $88,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at $99,000. Finally, NFSG Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the first quarter valued at $85,000. 61.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AAOI. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Optoelectronics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Optoelectronics

In related news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.73, for a total transaction of $886,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 377,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,767,779.54. This trade represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.09, for a total transaction of $488,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 380,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,464,523.84. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 329,204 shares of company stock worth $56,587,341. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Applied Optoelectronics Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $124.82 on Friday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.50 and a 52-week high of $233.67. The stock has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -160.03 and a beta of 3.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $127.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.85.

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