Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Shares Purchased by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 340,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Photronics were worth $8,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PLAB. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 28.3% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 23,196 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Photronics by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 967,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,943,000 after purchasing an additional 32,977 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 59,182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 16,620 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Photronics by 36.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 135,208 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,348,000 after buying an additional 35,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Photronics by 53.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,077 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 17,113 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $20.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 1.43. Photronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.61 and a 12-month high of $31.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $21.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.47.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $212.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $210.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In other news, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.13, for a total value of $241,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 32,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $772,160. This represents a 23.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.10, for a total value of $421,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 510,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,311,485. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,500 shares of company stock worth $1,829,138. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.