American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,018,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 159,245 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Photronics were worth $47,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Photronics by 216.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,283 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during 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 worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Photronics in the 4th quarter valued at $110,000. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Photronics Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of PLAB opened at $21.28 on Friday. Photronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.61 and a 52-week high of $31.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.43.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $212.14 million during 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 last year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Photronics

In other Photronics news, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.63, for a total value of $277,087.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 118,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,340. This represents a 8.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.10, for a total value of $421,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 510,850 shares in the company, valued at $12,311,485. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 77,500 shares of company stock worth $1,829,138. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson lifted their target price 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 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.