Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 332,124 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,980 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Photronics were worth $8,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Photronics by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,715,429 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $161,861,000 after purchasing an additional 265,533 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 17.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,482,856 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $61,252,000 after buying an additional 364,150 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Photronics by 16.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,990,046 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,094,000 after acquiring an additional 275,082 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Photronics by 12.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,684,647 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $41,560,000 after acquiring an additional 191,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Photronics by 225.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 840,538 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,805,000 after acquiring an additional 582,664 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th.

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PLAB opened at $23.65 on Friday. Photronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.25 and a 1 year high of $34.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.98.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.05). Photronics had a net margin of 16.22% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The business had revenue of $211.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share 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.