Empowered Funds LLC Reduces 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 stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) by 10.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 336,455 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 40,271 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned 0.53% of Photronics worth $6,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PLAB. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,196,267 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $45,595,000 after buying an additional 177,380 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Photronics during the 1st quarter valued at $3,462,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Photronics during the 4th quarter valued at $3,419,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,258,714 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,131,000 after buying an additional 135,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,224,519 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $46,181,000 after buying an additional 104,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PLAB shares. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on Photronics in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Singular Research raised Photronics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Photronics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLAB traded up $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.84. 144,282 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 632,275. Photronics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.46 and a 52-week high of $31.60. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $20.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.87. The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98 and a beta of 1.53.

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

Insider Activity

In other Photronics news, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 10,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.93, for a total transaction of $219,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 200,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,398,960.63. The trade was a 4.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 15,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.00, for a total value of $330,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 103,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,266,000. This trade represents a 12.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,382 shares of company stock worth $1,534,335 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Photronics Company Profile

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.