Photronics, Inc. $PLAB Shares Bought by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 4,995.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,501 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 28,922 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Photronics were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new position in Photronics in the 4th quarter valued at $960,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Photronics during the first quarter worth $47,902,000. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Photronics by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,883,463 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $92,271,000 after purchasing an additional 370,489 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC increased its stake in Photronics by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 313,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,029,000 after purchasing an additional 78,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Photronics in the first quarter valued at $3,935,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on PLAB. Zacks Research cut Photronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Lake Street Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Photronics in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Photronics from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Photronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Photronics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.33.

Photronics Trading Down 2.0%

Photronics stock opened at $30.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.07 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.93 and a 200-day moving average of $37.95. Photronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.26 and a 52 week high of $56.00.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $209.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.47 million. Photronics had a net margin of 18.47% and a return on equity of 7.69%. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. Photronics has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.390-0.450 EPS.

More Photronics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Photronics this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued investor alerts and reminders about a securities class action against Photronics, with deadlines for shareholders who bought shares between December 10, 2025 and May 27, 2026 to seek lead-plaintiff status by September 4, 2026. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Hagens Berman said it is investigating Photronics in connection with allegations that the company misled investors about demand and outlook for its high-end IC photomask line, reinforcing concerns tied to the lawsuit. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several additional firms, including Rosen, Faruqi & Faruqi, Johnson Fistel, Pomerantz, Bernstein Liebhard, and others, published similar notices about the same class action, increasing headline noise but not adding new operational information for the company. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: An MSN piece on whether PLAB is a buy, sell, or hold after Q1 earnings may influence sentiment, but it does not appear to add fresh company-specific news. Article Title

Photronics Company Profile

Photronics, Inc is a leading global supplier of photomask products used in the manufacture of integrated circuits, flat panel displays, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and advanced packaging applications. Photomasks, also known as reticles, are critical templates that carry the precise circuit patterns required for semiconductor lithography processes. The company offers a comprehensive range of mask solutions, including binary masks, attenuated phase-shift masks, reticles for micro-optics, and specialized products for high‐resolution applications.

Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Brookfield, Connecticut, Photronics has grown through organic expansion and strategic investments in high‐end lithography technology.