Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Photronics from “hold” to “buy,” contributing to a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $49.33 average price target.
• Photronics reported quarterly EPS of $0.50, beating estimates of $0.40, while revenue of $216.05 million exceeded forecasts and increased 2.7% year over year.
• The stock opened at $27.52, down 3.5%, while insiders sold 37,000 shares worth approximately $1.11 million over the past three months; institutional investors own 88.38% of shares.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Photronics from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Freedom Capital raised shares of Photronics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Photronics to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.33.

Photronics Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $27.52 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $29.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.38. Photronics has a twelve month low of $20.05 and a twelve month high of $56.00. The company has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 1.32.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $216.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.75 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 7.45% and a net margin of 19.05%. The company's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Photronics has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.560 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Photronics will post 1.90 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Photronics

In related news, SVP Han Park sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.37, for a total transaction of $288,515.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 66,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,004,420. This represents a 12.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kang Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.70, for a total value of $297,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 354,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,539,045. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 37,000 shares of company stock worth $1,114,265 over the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Photronics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 2.7% in the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 71,026 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,110,000 after acquiring an additional 1,892 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 40.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,913 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,131 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 7.5% in the third quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 7,174 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 57.7% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,914 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 2,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in Photronics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,288,000. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Photronics

Photronics, Inc NASDAQ: PLAB is a manufacturer of photomasks, precision quartz and glass plates used to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and display panels during the manufacturing process. Its products are essential to the production of integrated circuits and flat-panel displays.

The company provides photomasks for a range of semiconductor applications, including advanced logic, memory and other specialized devices. It also supplies photomasks used in flat-panel display manufacturing, supporting technologies such as liquid-crystal displays and other display formats.

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