Short Interest in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Grows By 19.2%

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,540,000 shares, an increase of 19.2% from the February 13th total of 2,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 573,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Photronics Price Performance

NASDAQ:PLAB traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $21.47. 553,766 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 450,585. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 1.43. Photronics has a 52-week low of $19.61 and a 52-week high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.05. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The company had revenue of $212.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Photronics will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 524,600 shares in the company, valued at $13,256,642. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 63,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.85, for a total value of $1,565,550.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,446,275.10. The trade was a 22.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,000 shares of company stock worth $5,087,810 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Photronics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Photronics by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,868,889 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $138,271,000 after acquiring an additional 29,681 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Photronics by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,368,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,643,000 after acquiring an additional 10,590 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Photronics by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,120,319 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,955,000 after purchasing an additional 257,373 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Photronics by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,018,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $47,565,000 after purchasing an additional 159,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,775,402 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $41,837,000 after purchasing an additional 30,237 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Company 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.