Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research cut Photronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Singular Research upgraded Photronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Photronics in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mitchell G. Tyson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.04, for a total transaction of $125,200.00. Following the sale, the director owned 51,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,300,252.08. This represents a 8.78% 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, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.00, for a total value of $330,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 103,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,266,000. This trade represents a 12.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 82,750 shares of company stock worth $1,953,800. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Photronics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PLAB. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,012,744 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $21,025,000 after purchasing an additional 5,162 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Photronics by 50.9% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 57,417 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,192,000 after buying an additional 19,375 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Photronics by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,907,219 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $122,634,000 after buying an additional 38,330 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Photronics by 38.8% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 275,833 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,726,000 after buying an additional 77,036 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Photronics during the first quarter valued at $648,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Price Performance

PLAB stock opened at $21.12 on Tuesday. Photronics has a one year low of $16.46 and a one year high of $31.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.08.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. Photronics had a net margin of 12.67% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The company had revenue of $210.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. Photronics’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Photronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.420-0.480 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Photronics will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.