Photronics, Inc. $PLAB Shares Purchased by Boston Partners

Boston Partners raised its stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 826,718 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 23,037 shares during the period. Boston Partners’ holdings in Photronics were worth $15,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PLAB. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Photronics in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Photronics in the 1st quarter valued at $98,000. Palouse Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Photronics by 19.2% in the 2nd quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,513 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,856 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Photronics in the 1st quarter worth about $227,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Photronics during the 1st quarter worth about $282,000. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In other news, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.00, for a total transaction of $330,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 103,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,266,000. This trade represents a 12.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.33, for a total transaction of $253,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 513,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,003,155.50. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 82,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,800. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on PLAB shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Photronics in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Photronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Singular Research raised shares of Photronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.00.

Photronics Trading Up 0.8%

PLAB opened at $22.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 1.55. Photronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.46 and a 1 year high of $31.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.24.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $210.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.30 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 8.19% and a net margin of 12.67%.The firm’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Photronics Company 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.