Short Interest in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Grows By 19.2%

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,540,000 shares, a growth of 19.2% from the February 13th total of 2,130,000 shares. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 573,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Photronics

In other Photronics news, Director Adam M. Lewis sold 19,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.11, for a total transaction of $476,172.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,250 shares in the company, valued at $536,447.50. This represents a 47.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total transaction of $505,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 524,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,256,642. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 209,000 shares of company stock valued at $5,087,810 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Photronics during the third quarter worth $252,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Photronics by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,745,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,217,000 after acquiring an additional 85,160 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Photronics by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 530,401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,133,000 after acquiring an additional 24,834 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 135,208 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,348,000 after purchasing an additional 35,825 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Photronics during the 4th quarter valued at about $298,000. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of PLAB stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $21.43. 409,620 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 450,376. The stock has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.58. Photronics has a 12 month low of $19.61 and a 12 month high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced 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 return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The business had revenue of $212.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.00 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Photronics will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.