Empowered Funds LLC Buys 44,602 Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) by 13.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 376,726 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 44,602 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.59% of Photronics worth $8,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLAB. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Photronics by 137.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,212 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 65.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,434 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Photronics by 65.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,932 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Photronics by 76.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,467 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Photronics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Photronics

In related news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total transaction of $505,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,600 shares in the company, valued at $13,256,642. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 10,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total value of $240,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,200,500. The trade was a 16.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 199,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,878,810. 3.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Photronics Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ PLAB traded up $0.27 on Thursday, reaching $22.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 306,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,423. Photronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.25 and a 52 week high of $34.13. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $24.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.92.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The semiconductor company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $222.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $218.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. Photronics's quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Photronics Company 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.