SG Americas Securities LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,591 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 5,876 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Photronics were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Photronics by 137.2% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 65.4% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,434 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Photronics by 223.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,629 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Photronics by 65.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,932 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Photronics during the third quarter worth about $112,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In related news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total transaction of $505,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 524,600 shares in the company, valued at $13,256,642. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.80, for a total value of $267,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 102,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,439,500. The trade was a 9.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 199,000 shares of company stock worth $4,878,810. Company insiders own 3.88% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of PLAB stock opened at $22.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $24.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.18. Photronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.25 and a 12-month high of $34.16.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The semiconductor company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $222.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.00 million. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson raised their price target on Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Photronics 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.