Short Interest in Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) Increases By 6.6%

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,070,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the September 15th total of 2,880,000 shares. Approximately 11.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 731,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Camtek from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Northland Capmk upgraded Camtek from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Camtek in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, B. Riley decreased their price target on Camtek from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Camtek currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.57.

Camtek Price Performance

CAMT stock traded up $0.75 on Thursday, reaching $82.37. The company had a trading volume of 372,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 544,404. The company’s fifty day moving average is $84.96 and its 200 day moving average is $95.62. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.54, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 4.29 and a current ratio of 5.21. Camtek has a 1 year low of $48.50 and a 1 year high of $140.50.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $102.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.26 million. Camtek had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 25.93%. The business’s revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Camtek will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Camtek

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Camtek by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,721 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Camtek by 1.5% during the second quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 8,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,038,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Camtek by 3.4% during the second quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 7,393 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $926,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Camtek by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Camtek by 23,300.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.93% of the company’s stock.

About Camtek

Camtek Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells inspection and metrology equipment for semiconductor industry. The company provides Eagle-i, a system that delivers 2D inspection and metrology capabilities; Eagle-AP, which addresses the advanced packaging market using software and hardware technologies that deliver superior 2D and 3D inspection and metrology capabilities on the same platform; and Golden Eagle, a panel inspection and metrology system to address the challenges fanout wafer level packaging applications.