Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Photronics Trading Up 3.9 %

PLAB opened at $23.65 on Thursday. Photronics has a twelve month low of $18.03 and a twelve month high of $34.16. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.26.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.05). The business 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 revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Photronics will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Photronics

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Photronics by 225.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 840,538 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,805,000 after buying an additional 582,664 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Photronics by 250.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 625,927 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,711,000 after acquiring an additional 447,182 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Photronics by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,769,232 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $149,613,000 after purchasing an additional 379,593 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Photronics by 17.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,482,856 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $61,252,000 after purchasing an additional 364,150 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Photronics by 16.0% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,990,046 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,094,000 after purchasing an additional 275,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

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.