Royce & Associates LP Sells 49,778 Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 696,828 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 49,778 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 1.10% of Photronics worth $16,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PLAB. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its position in Photronics by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 23,604 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 8,004 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its position in Photronics by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 40,804 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 10,199 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in Photronics by 121.9% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 24,050 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 13,214 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Photronics in the fourth quarter worth $389,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Photronics in the fourth quarter worth $1,206,000. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson upped 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.

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Photronics Price Performance

NASDAQ PLAB traded up $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.54. 229,132 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 449,651. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.61. Photronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.61 and a 12-month high of $31.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Photronics

In other news, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 63,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.85, for a total transaction of $1,565,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,166 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,446,275.10. This represents a 22.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total transaction of $240,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,200,500. This trade represents a 16.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,000 shares of company stock worth $5,087,810 over the last three months. 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.