Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Makes New Investment in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 145,100 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $3,419,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.23% of Photronics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,042 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $896,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC boosted its position in Photronics by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 90,245 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Photronics by 216.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Photronics by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,314 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 65.6% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,283 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the period. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.60, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 542,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,709,360. This represents a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 7,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total value of $132,160.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at $331,306.24. This represents a 28.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,548 shares of company stock valued at $1,093,093. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of Photronics stock traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $17.81. The company had a trading volume of 979,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 549,613. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 1.43. Photronics, Inc. has a one year low of $16.46 and a one year high of $31.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.74.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.08). Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The company had revenue of $210.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PLAB shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Photronics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th.

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.