Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $19.79 and last traded at $19.89, with a volume of 733872 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Photronics Trading Up 3.7 %

The company has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.78.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $212.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Photronics

In other news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 524,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,256,642. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Adam M. Lewis sold 19,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.11, for a total value of $476,172.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 22,250 shares in the company, valued at $536,447.50. This represents a 47.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 199,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,878,810 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Photronics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Photronics in the 4th quarter worth $66,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Photronics during the fourth quarter valued at $3,419,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Photronics during the fourth quarter valued at $110,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in Photronics during the fourth quarter valued at $656,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Photronics by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 78,380 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 25,952 shares during the period. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.