Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes $1.12 Million Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,567 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,121,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAOI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 10.4% during 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 position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter worth about $377,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position 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 period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Applied Optoelectronics by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 60,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,562,000 after buying an additional 20,261 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in Applied Optoelectronics during the 2nd quarter valued at $952,000. 61.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AAOI shares. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Applied Optoelectronics from $220.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Optoelectronics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Applied Optoelectronics in a report on Friday, August 7th. 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh sold 28,826 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 value of $4,800,393.78. Following the transaction, the insider owned 400,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,646,471.71. This represents a 6.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider David C. Kuo sold 29,227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.53, for a total value of $4,867,172.31. Following the sale, the insider owned 149,078 shares in the company, valued at $24,825,959.34. The trade was a 16.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 272,629 shares of company stock valued at $45,881,654 in the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Optoelectronics Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAOI opened at $106.23 on Monday. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.50 and a 52-week high of $233.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.74 and a 200 day moving average of $127.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a current ratio of 2.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.19 and a beta of 3.76.

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $191.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.16) EPS. The company’s quarterly 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. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.