Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,868,889 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,681 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Photronics worth $138,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Photronics by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,368,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,643,000 after buying an additional 10,590 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Photronics by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,018,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $47,565,000 after acquiring an additional 159,245 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Photronics by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,745,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $43,217,000 after purchasing an additional 85,160 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,007,582 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,739,000 after purchasing an additional 40,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 799,439 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $18,893,000 after purchasing an additional 249,222 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total value of $95,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,548 shares in the company, valued at $470,339.68. This represents a 16.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 8,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total transaction of $213,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 572,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,959,240. This trade represents a 1.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,750 shares of company stock valued at $734,600. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Photronics Stock Down 0.8 %

PLAB opened at $17.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.30. Photronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.46 and a twelve month high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $212.14 million for 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 firm earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current 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.