Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Shares Acquired by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 50.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 164,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 55,500 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Photronics were worth $3,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PLAB. Creative Planning acquired a new position in shares of Photronics during the 3rd quarter worth $250,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Photronics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $235,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Photronics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $346,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Photronics by 65.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,434 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Photronics by 137.2% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Price Performance

NASDAQ PLAB opened at $21.76 on Monday. Photronics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.25 and a 12 month high of $31.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.53 and a 200-day moving average of $23.90. The company has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 1.37.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 63,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,446,275.10. This represents a 22.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total value of $505,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 524,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,256,642. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 199,000 shares of company stock worth $4,878,810. 3.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.