Geode Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,745,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 85,160 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Photronics were worth $43,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Photronics by 137.2% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Photronics by 65.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,434 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 567 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its position in Photronics by 223.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,629 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Photronics by 65.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,932 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Photronics in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. 88.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PLAB shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 28th.

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In other news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total value of $505,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,256,642. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Adam M. Lewis sold 19,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.11, for a total value of $476,172.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $536,447.50. This represents a 47.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 102,750 shares of company stock valued at $2,547,123. Insiders own 3.88% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Stock Down 0.8 %

PLAB stock opened at $23.85 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $24.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.47. Photronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.25 and a 52-week high of $34.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 1.41.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The semiconductor company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $222.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.00 million. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

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.