Inspire Investing LLC Raises Stock Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 150.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,771 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,084 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC owned about 0.05% of Photronics worth $784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PLAB. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Photronics during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 89.5% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 24,548 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $770,000 after buying an additional 11,595 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $249,000. Trexquant Investment LP increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 98.4% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 98,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,086,000 after buying an additional 48,792 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $91,000. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Photronics Stock Performance

PLAB stock opened at $23.37 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.10. Photronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.03 and a fifty-two week high of $34.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Photronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday.

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.