Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New $398,000 Investment in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased 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 and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,893 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $398,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Photronics during the 4th quarter worth $575,000. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Photronics in the 4th quarter worth $1,319,000. Skylands Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Photronics by 50.9% in the 4th quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 164,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,876,000 after buying an additional 55,500 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Photronics in the 4th quarter worth $1,227,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Photronics by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 59,270 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,396,000 after buying an additional 18,600 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of PLAB opened at $20.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.73. Photronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.61 and a twelve month high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.05. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The firm had revenue of $212.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson increased their target price on Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Activity at Photronics

In other news, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 63,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,446,275.10. This trade represents a 22.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Adam M. Lewis sold 19,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.11, for a total value of $476,172.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $536,447.50. This represents a 47.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 209,000 shares of company stock worth $5,087,810. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Photronics 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.