Strs Ohio Purchases New Stake in Photronics, Inc. $PLAB

Key Points

• Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Photronics, purchasing 31,200 shares valued at approximately $648,000 during the 1st quarter of the year.
• Institutional investors own 88.38% of Photronics' stock, indicating strong support from large funds, with Deutsche Bank AG increasing its holdings by 7.4%.
• Photronics reported a net margin of 12.67% and exceeded earnings expectations by posting $0.51 EPS for the last quarter, against analysts' estimates of $0.39.

Strs Ohio bought a new position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 31,200 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $648,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLAB. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 66,467 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,566,000 after buying an additional 4,589 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 35,047 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $826,000 after buying an additional 1,197 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 78,380 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,847,000 after buying an additional 25,952 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Photronics in the fourth quarter worth $656,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Photronics in the fourth quarter worth $110,000. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Photronics Stock Performance

Shares of PLAB stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 222,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 651,487. Photronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.46 and a 1-year high of $31.60. The company has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.18 and a beta of 1.53. The firm's 50-day moving average is $21.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.00.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. Photronics had a net margin of 12.67% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The company 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 company posted $0.51 EPS. The business's revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Photronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.420-0.480 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Constantine S. Macricostas sold 29,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.20, for a total value of $595,900.00. Following the sale, the director owned 459,623 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,284,384.60. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,398,960.63. The trade was a 4.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,500 shares of company stock worth $1,444,750. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Singular Research upgraded shares of Photronics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of Photronics in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Photronics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. One investment 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 has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $31.00.

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.