Skylands Capital LLC Purchases 55,500 Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Skylands Capital LLC increased its stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 50.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 164,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 55,500 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC owned 0.26% of Photronics worth $3,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Photronics by 137.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 65.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,434 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Photronics by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Photronics by 76.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the fourth quarter worth $110,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Stock Performance

PLAB stock opened at $21.76 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 1.37. Photronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.25 and a fifty-two week high of $31.60. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.90.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 63,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.85, for a total transaction of $1,565,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,446,275.10. This trade represents a 22.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 8,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.40, for a total value of $213,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 572,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,959,240. This represents a 1.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 199,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,878,810. 3.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report 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.