Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

PLAB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Photronics to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Freedom Capital raised Photronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Photronics from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Photronics in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.33.

Photronics Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $30.50 on Friday. Photronics has a fifty-two week low of $20.05 and a fifty-two week high of $56.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.09.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.10. Photronics had a net margin of 19.05% and a return on equity of 7.45%. The business had revenue of $216.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.75 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Photronics has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.560 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Photronics will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kang Lee sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.50, for a total value of $221,250.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 347,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,246,825. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Photronics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PLAB. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Photronics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $308,586,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Photronics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,902,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Photronics by 32.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 823,488 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $33,289,000 after buying an additional 202,040 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Photronics by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 775,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $24,800,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Photronics during the 2nd quarter valued at $12,374,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

About Photronics

Photronics, Inc (NASDAQ: PLAB) is a manufacturer of photomasks, precision photographic plates used in the semiconductor and flat-panel display manufacturing processes. Photomasks transfer circuit patterns onto silicon wafers and display substrates, making them an important component in the production of integrated circuits, memory devices, flat-panel displays and other electronic products.

The company provides photomasks for a range of semiconductor applications, including advanced logic, foundry and memory devices.