Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) Given Average Recommendation of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Photronics, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from five analysts, with an average 12-month target price of $31.00.
• Recent analyst upgrades include a "strong-buy" rating from Singular Research and a "buy" rating from Wall Street Zen and Zacks Research.
• Insider transactions showed significant sales, with Directors and Executives reducing their positions, indicating a potential mixed sentiment among company insiders.

Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the five analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.00.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Singular Research raised Photronics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Photronics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Photronics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Photronics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Insider Activity

In other Photronics news, Director Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.33, for a total transaction of $253,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 513,350 shares in the company, valued at $13,003,155.50. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.93, for a total value of $219,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 200,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,398,960.63. This trade represents a 4.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 82,750 shares of company stock worth $1,953,800. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Photronics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLAB. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,607,874 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $49,106,000 after acquiring an additional 383,355 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 177,380 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Photronics during the 1st quarter valued at $3,462,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 135,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 525.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 109,374 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 91,886 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company's stock.

Photronics Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $23.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.32. Photronics has a 1-year low of $16.46 and a 1-year high of $31.60.

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, topping 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Photronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.420-0.480 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Photronics will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

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.

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