Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 322,773 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 20,420 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.51% of Photronics worth $7,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PLAB. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Photronics by 177.9% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 98,774 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,797,000 after acquiring an additional 63,228 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of Photronics by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 228,950 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,648,000 after purchasing an additional 23,449 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Photronics by 41.3% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 72,251 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 21,109 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Photronics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $730,000. Finally, BOKF NA purchased a new stake in Photronics in the first quarter valued at about $300,000. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Photronics Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ PLAB opened at $23.94 on Wednesday. Photronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.25 and a 12-month high of $34.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th.

About Photronics

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.