Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Invests $298,000 in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 12,031 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Photronics by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Photronics by 65.4% during 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 in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Photronics by 137.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC raised its position in shares of Photronics by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 18,714 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 21.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,930 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $24.57 on Friday. Photronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.25 and a 12-month high of $34.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.32.

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

Insider Activity at Photronics

In other Photronics news, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.80, for a total transaction of $267,750.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total transaction of $250,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 580,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,532,867. The trade was a 1.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 190,250 shares of company stock worth $4,665,310 in the last 90 days. 3.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PLAB. DA Davidson increased their price target on Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report 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.