Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Shares Bought by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 60,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 3,694 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Photronics were worth $1,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Photronics by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,007,582 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,739,000 after purchasing an additional 40,579 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Photronics by 1,761.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 64,169 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 60,721 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Photronics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,868,889 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $138,271,000 after purchasing an additional 29,681 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Photronics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $398,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Photronics by 121.9% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 24,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $567,000 after acquiring an additional 13,214 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PLAB. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on Photronics in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Photronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th.

Photronics Price Performance

Photronics stock opened at $18.27 on Thursday. Photronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.46 and a 1-year high of $31.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.27.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.08). Photronics had a return on equity of 8.54% and a net margin of 14.00%. The firm had revenue of $210.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Photronics

In other Photronics news, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 10,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.63, for a total value of $216,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $639,123.24. The trade was a 25.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 34,548 shares of company stock worth $668,093 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.