Photronics, Inc. $PLAB Shares Sold by Hodges Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Hodges Capital Management Inc. sold 65.9% of its stake in Photronics, Inc., reducing its holdings to approximately 71,945 shares worth $1.49 million, following the sale of 139,030 shares in the first quarter.
• Photronics reported a Q3 2023 earnings of $0.51 per share, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.39, while the company forecasts a Q4 2025 EPS guidance of 0.420-0.480.
• The stock has received multiple upgrades from analysts, including a "strong-buy" rating by Singular Research, with an average price target of $31.00 according to MarketBeat.com.

Hodges Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) by 65.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,945 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 139,030 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Photronics worth $1,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,907,219 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $122,634,000 after purchasing an additional 38,330 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,224,519 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $46,181,000 after purchasing an additional 104,200 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 8.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 177,380 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,258,714 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,131,000 after purchasing an additional 135,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,012,744 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $21,025,000 after purchasing an additional 5,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.38% of the company's stock.

Photronics Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ PLAB opened at $22.53 on Friday. Photronics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.46 and a 52 week high of $31.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.87.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $210.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $204.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. Photronics's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Photronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.420-0.480 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 103,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,266,000. This trade represents a 12.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kang Jyh Lee sold 4,882 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total transaction of $89,584.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 532,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,764,035. This trade represents a 0.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,382 shares of company stock valued at $1,534,335. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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