9,599 Shares in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Acquired by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 9,599 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Photronics by 17.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,482,856 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,252,000 after acquiring an additional 364,150 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 16.0% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,990,046 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,094,000 after acquiring an additional 275,082 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 12.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,684,647 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $41,560,000 after buying an additional 191,809 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 3.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 967,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,943,000 after purchasing an additional 32,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of Photronics by 1.7% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 746,606 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $18,486,000 after acquiring an additional 12,603 shares during the period. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson upped their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th.

Photronics Trading Up 1.4 %

Photronics stock opened at $24.19 on Wednesday. Photronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.25 and a 12-month high of $34.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.41.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The semiconductor company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The business had revenue of $222.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 63,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.85, for a total transaction of $1,565,550.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,446,275.10. The trade was a 22.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total value of $505,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 524,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,256,642. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 102,750 shares of company stock worth $2,547,123. 3.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.