Strs Ohio Trims Holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Strs Ohio cut its stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned about 0.05% of Photronics worth $1,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mendota Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Photronics by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 6,125 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. LVZ Inc. grew its position in Photronics by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 12,657 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 1,331 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Photronics by 1.0% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 137,400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,777,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Photronics during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Photronics by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 27,905 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $875,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Photronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd.

Photronics Trading Up 5.0 %

NASDAQ PLAB opened at $26.96 on Wednesday. Photronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.86 and a 1-year high of $34.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.63 and a 200-day moving average of $26.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The semiconductor company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.01). Photronics had a net margin of 15.34% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company had revenue of $216.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.