Marshall Wace LLP Invests $685,000 in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 29,084 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $685,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,787,000. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Photronics by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,120,319 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,955,000 after buying an additional 257,373 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Photronics by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 799,439 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $18,893,000 after buying an additional 249,222 shares in the last quarter. Kestrel Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in Photronics in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,163,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Photronics by 118.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 367,346 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,655,000 after acquiring an additional 199,490 shares in the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 7,548 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total value of $134,882.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,700. The trade was a 43.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.90, for a total transaction of $209,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 552,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,538,890. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,548 shares of company stock worth $1,093,093. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Photronics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $18.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81 and a beta of 1.40. Photronics, Inc. has a one year low of $16.46 and a one year high of $31.60. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.48.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $212.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $210.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Photronics Profile

Photronics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of photomask products and services in the United States, Taiwan, China, Korea, Europe, and internationally. It offers photomasks that are used in the manufacture of integrated circuits and flat panel displays (FPDs); and to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers, and FDP substrates.