Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Short Interest Up 19.2% in February

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of 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. Based on an average trading volume of 573,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days. Currently, 4.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, DA Davidson lifted their target price on 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 related news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 8,750 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total value of $213,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 572,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,959,240. This trade represents a 1.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 63,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.85, for a total transaction of $1,565,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,166 shares in the company, valued at $5,446,275.10. This trade represents a 22.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 209,000 shares of company stock valued at $5,087,810. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Photronics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PLAB. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the 4th quarter valued at $298,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Photronics during the fourth quarter valued at about $66,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Photronics during the fourth quarter worth about $3,419,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Photronics in the fourth quarter worth about $110,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Photronics in the fourth quarter valued at about $656,000. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PLAB traded down $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.43. The stock had a trading volume of 409,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 450,376. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $22.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.43. Photronics has a 12 month low of $19.61 and a 12 month high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.05. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The business had revenue of $212.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Photronics will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Photronics

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.