Wall Street Zen Downgrades Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) to Hold

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

Separately, DA Davidson cut their price target on Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday.

Photronics Stock Down 3.7%

NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $16.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.43. Photronics has a 52-week low of $16.46 and a 52-week high of $31.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.83.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $210.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $212.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Photronics will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Photronics

In related news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.60, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 542,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,360. The trade was a 1.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.79, for a total transaction of $88,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,950. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,548 shares of company stock valued at $1,093,093. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Photronics by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,007,582 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,739,000 after purchasing an additional 40,579 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 376,726 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,876,000 after acquiring an additional 44,602 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 0.5% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Photronics during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,472,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 297.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.