Boston Partners Acquires 249,222 Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) by 45.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 799,439 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 249,222 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 1.26% of Photronics worth $18,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PLAB. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 216.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Photronics by 65.6% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,283 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Photronics by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Photronics by 76.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,467 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Photronics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,000. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Photronics Price Performance

PLAB stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.56. 371,444 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 459,415. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $22.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.51. Photronics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.61 and a 12 month high of $31.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 1.43.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.05. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The company had revenue of $212.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 8,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total transaction of $213,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 572,100 shares in the company, valued at $13,959,240. This represents a 1.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 10,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 32,000 shares in the company, valued at $772,160. This trade represents a 23.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,612,838. Corporate 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.