Insider Selling: Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) CEO Sells 20,000 Shares of Stock

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total value of $505,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 524,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,256,642. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Photronics Price Performance

NASDAQ PLAB opened at $24.04 on Friday. Photronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.25 and a 1 year high of $34.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.60 and a 200 day moving average of $24.48.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 11th. The semiconductor company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The business had revenue of $222.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Photronics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 31,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $787,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Photronics by 0.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 511,962 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,630,000 after buying an additional 3,289 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Photronics by 21.9% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 171,743 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after buying an additional 30,888 shares in the last quarter. Skylands Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Photronics by 4.6% in the second quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 114,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,815,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Photronics in the second quarter worth about $212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective 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.

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.