AXQ Capital LP Makes New Investment in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 12,957 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PLAB. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 216.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,283 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 76.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,467 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Photronics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Photronics stock opened at $21.01 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.05 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $22.21 and its 200 day moving average is $23.52. Photronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.61 and a twelve month 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $212.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.00 million. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Photronics news, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.63, for a total value of $277,087.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 118,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,340. This trade represents a 8.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.90, for a total transaction of $209,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 552,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,538,890. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 106,250 shares of company stock worth $2,540,688. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.