Principal Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. $AAOI

Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 49,342 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,279,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Applied Optoelectronics by 497.5% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 962 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics in the second quarter worth $49,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 175.5% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 1,413 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Optoelectronics during the second quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Optoelectronics by 28.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 5,488 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the period. 61.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider David C. Kuo sold 17,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $876,319.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 111,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,602,132.71. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stefan J. Murry sold 11,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $587,573.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 290,050 shares in the company, valued at $14,575,012.50. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,520 shares of company stock worth $3,080,367. 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Applied Optoelectronics Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AAOI opened at $43.91 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.82. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $9.71 and a 52-week high of $50.80. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.64 and a beta of 3.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

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.