American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,018,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159,245 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 3.19% of Photronics worth $47,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PLAB. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Photronics by 216.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Photronics by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,283 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Photronics by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 76.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,467 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Photronics during the 3rd quarter valued at $112,000. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.10, for a total value of $421,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 510,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,311,485. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 8.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,829,138. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Photronics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $21.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.48. Photronics, Inc. has a one year low of $19.61 and a one year high of $31.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, DA Davidson increased their target price on Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock 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.