Kang Jyh Lee Sells 17,500 Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Stock

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.10, for a total value of $421,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 510,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,311,485. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Kang Jyh Lee also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 24th, Kang Jyh Lee sold 17,500 shares of Photronics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.00, for a total value of $420,000.00.
• On Thursday, December 19th, Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of Photronics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total transaction of $505,400.00.

Photronics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLAB traded up $0.45 during trading on Monday, reaching $24.57. The stock had a trading volume of 516,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,147. Photronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.25 and a 52 week high of $34.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.66 and its 200 day moving average is $24.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 1.39.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The semiconductor company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $222.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PLAB. StockNews.com raised shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Photronics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLAB. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,482,856 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,252,000 after acquiring an additional 364,150 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Photronics by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,368,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,643,000 after buying an additional 10,590 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Photronics by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,990,046 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,094,000 after buying an additional 275,082 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Photronics by 5.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Photronics by 12.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,684,647 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $41,560,000 after acquiring an additional 191,809 shares during the period. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.