Easterly Investment Partners LLC Buys 3,006 Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 414,194 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.65% of Photronics worth $9,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Photronics by 216.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 65.6% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,283 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Photronics by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Photronics by 76.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,467 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506 shares during the period. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Photronics in the fourth quarter worth $110,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In other news, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total value of $250,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 580,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,532,867. The trade was a 1.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.63, for a total value of $277,087.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 118,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,340. This trade represents a 8.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 77,500 shares of company stock worth $1,829,138 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Photronics from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Photronics Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:PLAB opened at $21.68 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $22.08 and its 200 day moving average is $23.49. Photronics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.61 and a 12 month high of $31.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 1.43.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.05. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 15.07%. The firm had revenue of $212.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $210.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. Research analysts predict that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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.