Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $709,000 Stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,085 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 7,021 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Photronics were worth $709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PLAB. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Photronics by 137.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Photronics by 65.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,434 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 567 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Photronics by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Photronics by 76.8% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Photronics during the fourth quarter valued at $110,000. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of PLAB opened at $19.89 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.03 and a 200-day moving average of $23.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 1.37. Photronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.79 and a 1 year high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.05. Photronics had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The firm had revenue of $212.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Photronics

In related news, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 63,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.85, for a total transaction of $1,565,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 219,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,446,275.10. This trade represents a 22.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.27, for a total value of $505,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,256,642. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 199,000 shares of company stock worth $4,878,810 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Photronics 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.