Easterly Investment Partners LLC Increases Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 414,194 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,006 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Photronics were worth $9,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Photronics by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC grew its position in Photronics by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 90,245 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Photronics by 216.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 762 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 65.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 57,015 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Photronics news, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.63, for a total value of $216,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $639,123.24. This trade represents a 25.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,829,138 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of PLAB stock opened at $21.68 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.08 and a 200 day moving average of $23.49. Photronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.61 and a 1-year high of $31.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 1.43.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $212.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $210.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 report on Thursday, December 12th.

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.