Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) Reaches New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a sell rating. The company traded as low as $61.43 and last traded at $61.55, with a volume of 19340 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $62.97.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CAMT. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Camtek in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Camtek in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Camtek in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Camtek from $120.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Camtek from $102.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Camtek presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.22.

Institutional Trading of Camtek

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in Camtek by 42.4% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Camtek by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 329 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Camtek by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Camtek by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. now owns 2,786 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Camtek by 364.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.93% of the company’s stock.

Camtek Trading Down 6.3 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.38, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 5.00 and a quick ratio of 4.11.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.06). Camtek had a return on equity of 24.99% and a net margin of 27.61%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Camtek Ltd. will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

Camtek Company Profile

Camtek Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells inspection and metrology equipment for semiconductor industry. The company provides Eagle-i, a system that delivers 2D inspection and metrology capabilities; Eagle-AP, which addresses the advanced packaging market using software and hardware technologies that deliver superior 2D and 3D inspection and metrology capabilities on the same platform; and Golden Eagle, a panel inspection and metrology system to address the challenges fanout wafer level packaging applications.