Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $654,000 Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,525 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Photronics were worth $654,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PLAB. Illumine Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 19.1% in the first quarter. Illumine Investment Management LLC now owns 32,862 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 5,277 shares during the period. LVZ Inc. lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 35.1% in the 1st quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 30,807 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 60,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 3,694 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 30,540 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Photronics by 22.9% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 28,982 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 5,391 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PLAB. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Photronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Craig Hallum assumed coverage on Photronics in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock.

Photronics Stock Up 2.1%

NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $20.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 1.40. Photronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.46 and a twelve month high of $31.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $18.95 and a 200-day moving average of $20.80.

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

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In other Photronics news, Director Kang Jyh Lee sold 4,882 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total transaction of $89,584.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 532,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,764,035. The trade was a 0.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $134,882.76. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $178,700. This represents a 43.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,430 shares of company stock valued at $445,577 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Photronics

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.