Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $3.30 Million Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Free Report) by 10.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 159,008 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 19,506 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.25% of Photronics worth $3,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Photronics by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,042 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 90,245 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,126,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Photronics by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,314 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in Photronics by 65.6% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,283 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Photronics

In related news, Director Walter M. Fiederowicz sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.63, for a total value of $216,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,548 shares in the company, valued at $639,123.24. This represents a 25.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 44,548 shares of company stock worth $884,093. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Photronics Stock Performance

PLAB traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $18.94. The company had a trading volume of 250,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 555,338. Photronics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.46 and a twelve month high of $31.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 1.38. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $18.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.49.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $210.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on PLAB. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Photronics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of Photronics in a report on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company.

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.