Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday.

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PLAB opened at $23.26 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.57. Photronics has a 12 month low of $18.03 and a 12 month high of $34.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 1.40.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $211.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.00 million. Photronics had a net margin of 16.22% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Photronics will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Photronics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Photronics by 177.9% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 98,774 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,797,000 after acquiring an additional 63,228 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Photronics by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 885,863 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,790,000 after purchasing an additional 30,163 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 250.2% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 625,927 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $19,711,000 after purchasing an additional 447,182 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in shares of Photronics by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 308,856 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,746,000 after purchasing an additional 49,331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Photronics by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,714,964 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $48,568,000 after purchasing an additional 207,049 shares during the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.