Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Shares Acquired by Boston Partners

Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 45.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 799,439 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 249,222 shares during the period. Boston Partners’ holdings in Photronics were worth $18,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLAB. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Photronics in the fourth quarter valued at $3,472,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in Photronics by 297.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 114,133 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 85,397 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Photronics by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,745,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,217,000 after purchasing an additional 85,160 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 210,975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,970,000 after purchasing an additional 58,590 shares during the period. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Photronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,319,000. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Photronics news, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total transaction of $240,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,200,500. This represents a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.80, for a total value of $267,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 102,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,439,500. The trade was a 9.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 106,250 shares of company stock worth $2,540,688 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, DA Davidson lifted 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 Stock Performance

Photronics stock opened at $21.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 1.43. Photronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.61 and a fifty-two week high of $31.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.55.

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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $210.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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.