Virtu Financial LLC Takes Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,228 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLAB. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 799,439 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $18,893,000 after buying an additional 249,222 shares during the last quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA raised its stake in Photronics by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 56,803 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,115 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in Photronics by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 23,604 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 8,004 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its position in Photronics by 33.3% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 40,804 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $961,000 after purchasing an additional 10,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 121.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 24,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 13,214 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Photronics Trading Down 1.8 %

PLAB opened at $21.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.43. Photronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.61 and a 1 year high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $212.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.00 million. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Photronics news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.10, for a total transaction of $421,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 510,850 shares in the company, valued at $12,311,485. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.63, for a total transaction of $277,087.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 118,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,340. This represents a 8.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,500 shares of company stock worth $1,829,138 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Photronics 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.