Empowered Funds LLC Has $6.99 Million Stock Position in Photronics, Inc. $PLAB

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC reduced its position in Photronics, Inc. by 10.7%, now holding approximately 336,455 shares worth around $6.99 million.
• Several other institutional investors have increased their stakes in Photronics, leading to an overall 88.38% ownership by institutional investors.
• Photronics reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.51 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.39, despite a 0.3% decline in year-over-year revenue.

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) by 10.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 336,455 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 40,271 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.53% of Photronics worth $6,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Photronics by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 30,540 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 11.9% in the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 9,400 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Photronics by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 35,047 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $826,000 after acquiring an additional 1,197 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Photronics by 4.8% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 31,525 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P raised its holdings in shares of Photronics by 1.6% during the first quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 97,138 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,017,000 after acquiring an additional 1,483 shares during the period. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Photronics Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Photronics stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.53. 434,448 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 695,743. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.86. Photronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.46 and a 1-year high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. Photronics had a net margin of 12.67% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The business had revenue of $210.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.30 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. Photronics's revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Photronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.420-0.480 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of Photronics in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Photronics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Singular Research upgraded Photronics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $31.00.

Insider Activity at Photronics

In related news, Director Kang Jyh Lee sold 4,882 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total transaction of $89,584.70. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 532,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,764,035. The trade was a 0.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mitchell G. Tyson sold 15,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.97, for a total transaction of $299,550.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 56,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,136,832.19. This trade represents a 20.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 74,382 shares of company stock worth $1,534,335 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.