Kestrel Investment Management Corp Buys New Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Kestrel Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 219,150 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,163,000. Photronics accounts for about 2.8% of Kestrel Investment Management Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Photronics by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 340,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,025,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA bought a new stake in Photronics in the fourth quarter valued at about $222,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Photronics in the fourth quarter worth about $7,787,000. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Photronics by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 414,194 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,758,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Finally, Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Photronics by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 53,419 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 12,430 shares during the period. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Photronics Trading Down 3.2 %

PLAB opened at $20.60 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a PE ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $21.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.48. Photronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.61 and a 1-year high of $31.60.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 11,250 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.63, for a total transaction of $277,087.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 118,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,340. This trade represents a 8.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.90, for a total value of $209,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 552,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,538,890. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,829,138. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.