Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) Short Interest Up 5.3% in January

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) saw a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,790,000 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the December 31st total of 3,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 499,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.6 days. Currently, 13.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Camtek Stock Performance

Shares of CAMT stock opened at $88.20 on Wednesday. Camtek has a 52-week low of $69.83 and a 52-week high of $140.50. The company has a quick ratio of 4.36, a current ratio of 5.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 40.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.85.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.06. Camtek had a return on equity of 24.21% and a net margin of 26.53%. The company had revenue of $112.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.51 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Camtek’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Camtek will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Camtek

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAMT. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Camtek by 78.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 329 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Camtek by 23,300.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Camtek in the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Camtek during the fourth quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. raised its position in Camtek by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. now owns 2,786 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CAMT. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Camtek in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Camtek in a report on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Camtek from $102.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Camtek in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Camtek from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.44.

Camtek Company Profile

Camtek Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells inspection and metrology equipment for semiconductor industry. The company provides Eagle-i, a system that delivers 2D inspection and metrology capabilities; Eagle-AP, which addresses the advanced packaging market using software and hardware technologies that deliver superior 2D and 3D inspection and metrology capabilities on the same platform; and Golden Eagle, a panel inspection and metrology system to address the challenges fanout wafer level packaging applications.