Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PLAB. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Photronics from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Photronics in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Freedom Capital upgraded Photronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised Photronics to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.33.

Photronics Price Performance

NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $30.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $30.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.10. Photronics has a one year low of $20.05 and a one year high of $56.00.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $216.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.75 million. Photronics had a net margin of 19.05% and a return on equity of 7.45%. Photronics’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. Photronics has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.560 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Photronics will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In other Photronics news, Director Kang Lee sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.70, for a total transaction of $297,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 354,850 shares in the company, valued at $10,539,045. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Photronics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PLAB. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Photronics in the second quarter valued at about $308,586,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Photronics during the first quarter worth about $47,902,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Photronics by 32.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 823,488 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $33,289,000 after buying an additional 202,040 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Photronics by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 775,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $24,800,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Photronics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,374,000. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Photronics Company Profile

Photronics, Inc (NASDAQ: PLAB) is a manufacturer of photomasks, precision photographic plates used in the semiconductor and flat-panel display manufacturing processes. Photomasks transfer circuit patterns onto silicon wafers and display substrates, making them an important component in the production of integrated circuits, memory devices, flat-panel displays and other electronic products.

The company provides photomasks for a range of semiconductor applications, including advanced logic, foundry and memory devices.