Royce & Associates LP Buys 12,603 Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 746,606 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,603 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 1.18% of Photronics worth $18,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 4.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 530,401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,133,000 after acquiring an additional 24,834 shares during the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 17.8% during the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 411,188 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,181,000 after acquiring an additional 62,201 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 21.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,930 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 45.0% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 16,053 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 4,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 137.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research 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’s 50-day moving average is $23.88 and its 200 day moving average is $25.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74 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 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 company had revenue of $211.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. Photronics’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate 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.