Trexquant Investment LP Grows Holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) by 61.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 175,371 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 66,633 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.28% of Photronics worth $4,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,868,889 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $138,271,000 after acquiring an additional 29,681 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Photronics by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,018,887 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $47,565,000 after buying an additional 159,245 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Photronics by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,775,402 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $41,837,000 after acquiring an additional 30,237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Photronics by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,007,582 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $23,739,000 after acquiring an additional 40,579 shares during the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In other Photronics news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.90, for a total transaction of $209,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 552,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,538,890. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 5,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.16, for a total transaction of $95,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $470,339.68. This trade represents a 16.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,750 shares of company stock valued at $734,600. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson raised their price objective 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLAB traded down $1.84 during trading on Thursday, reaching $17.54. The company had a trading volume of 150,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 496,737. Photronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.46 and a fifty-two week high of $31.60. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $21.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 1.40.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $212.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $210.00 million. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS 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.