American Century Companies Inc. Grows Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 12.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,684,647 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 191,809 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 2.66% of Photronics worth $41,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 177.9% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 98,774 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,797,000 after purchasing an additional 63,228 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Photronics by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 885,863 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,790,000 after acquiring an additional 30,163 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 308,856 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,746,000 after acquiring an additional 49,331 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Photronics by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,714,964 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,568,000 after acquiring an additional 207,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Photronics during the first quarter worth approximately $1,121,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of PLAB opened at $23.33 on Tuesday. Photronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.03 and a 1-year high of $34.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.22.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.05). Photronics had a net margin of 16.22% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The firm had revenue of $211.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Photronics’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th.

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.