Denali Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 56,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,319,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Four Tree Island Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Photronics during the 4th quarter worth $3,472,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in Photronics by 297.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 114,133 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 85,397 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Photronics by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,745,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,217,000 after acquiring an additional 85,160 shares during the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 17.8% in the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 411,188 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,181,000 after purchasing an additional 62,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Photronics by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 210,975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,970,000 after purchasing an additional 58,590 shares during the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Photronics Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $21.10 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.37. Photronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.25 and a 52-week high of $31.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.87.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson lifted their price objective 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, Director Adam M. Lewis sold 19,750 shares of Photronics 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 sale, the director now owns 22,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $536,447.50. The trade was a 47.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total value of $505,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 524,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,256,642. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 199,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,878,810. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.