Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Photronics has been upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting growing positive sentiment among analysts.
• The stock currently has an average price target of $31.00 and a consensus rating of "buy" from multiple analysts, indicating potential for future growth.
• Photronics recently reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.51, exceeding expectations, although revenue showed a slight decline year-over-year.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on PLAB. Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of Photronics in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Singular Research upgraded shares of Photronics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Photronics Trading Up 6.7%

Shares of PLAB traded up $1.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $24.99. 1,031,857 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 760,405. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.95. The company has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 1.53. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $210.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.30 million. Photronics had a net margin of 12.67% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. Photronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.420-0.480 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Photronics will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Photronics

In other news, Director David A. Garcia acquired 2,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $19.00 per share, with a total value of $50,350.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 10,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $193,762. The trade was a 35.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mitchell G. Tyson sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.97, for a total transaction of $299,550.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 56,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,136,832.19. This trade represents a 20.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 74,382 shares of company stock valued at $1,534,335. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Photronics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,907,219 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $122,634,000 after acquiring an additional 38,330 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 17.2% during the second 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 during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 5.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,306,176 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $43,425,000 after acquiring an additional 109,909 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 1.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,888,042 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $35,555,000 after acquiring an additional 26,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Photronics by 12.1% during the first 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 during the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.