Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) Short Interest Update

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Camtek

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in Camtek during the second quarter worth $8,386,000. Meitav Investment House Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Camtek by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 373,044 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,887,000 after purchasing an additional 46,016 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Camtek by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,515,452 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $121,734,000 after purchasing an additional 268,258 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in Camtek in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,423,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Camtek by 34.0% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 217,617 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,254,000 after purchasing an additional 55,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.93% of the company’s stock.

Camtek Stock Up 4.7 %

Camtek stock opened at $103.62 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 5.28, a quick ratio of 4.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Camtek has a 1-year low of $69.83 and a 1-year high of $140.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.34. The company has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.33.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. Camtek’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Camtek will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CAMT. Barclays decreased their target price on Camtek from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Northland Securities increased their target price on Camtek from $102.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Camtek from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Camtek in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Camtek in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Camtek presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.44.

About Camtek

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.