Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,745,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 85,160 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.75% of Photronics worth $43,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLAB. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 17.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,482,856 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,252,000 after purchasing an additional 364,150 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Photronics by 16.0% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,990,046 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,094,000 after buying an additional 275,082 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 191,809 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 20.8% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 505,567 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,472,000 after acquiring an additional 86,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Photronics during the second quarter valued at $2,112,000. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PLAB. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Adam M. Lewis sold 19,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.11, for a total value of $476,172.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,250 shares in the company, valued at $536,447.50. This trade represents a 47.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 102,750 shares of company stock valued at $2,547,123. Insiders own 3.88% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $23.85 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.47. Photronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.25 and a 52 week high of $34.16. The company has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 1.41.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last posted its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.