Investors Purchase High Volume of Camtek Put Options (NASDAQ:CAMT)

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 5,648 put options on the company. This is an increase of 419% compared to the average volume of 1,088 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Camtek

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in Camtek by 311.8% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,192,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $96,341,000 after purchasing an additional 903,126 shares during the last quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. raised its holdings in shares of Camtek by 81.8% in the fourth quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. now owns 1,566,433 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $126,521,000 after buying an additional 705,000 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Camtek by 119.3% during the 4th quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 818,123 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $66,159,000 after acquiring an additional 445,079 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Camtek during the 4th quarter valued at $30,956,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Camtek by 107.5% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 720,700 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $57,548,000 after acquiring an additional 373,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.93% of the company’s stock.

Camtek Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CAMT opened at $58.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.38. Camtek has a 52-week low of $56.49 and a 52-week high of $140.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a current ratio of 5.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $78.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.64.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.06). Camtek had a net margin of 27.61% and a return on equity of 24.99%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Camtek will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CAMT. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Camtek in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Camtek from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Camtek in a research note on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Camtek from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of Camtek from $102.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Camtek currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.22.

Camtek Company Profile

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.