Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Takes $265,000 Position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,437 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Photronics by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,321,531 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $107,548,000 after buying an additional 186,718 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Photronics by 88.3% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,560,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $31,532,000 after purchasing an additional 731,793 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Photronics by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,397,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $43,855,000 after purchasing an additional 547,510 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Photronics by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,115,690 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,548,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Photronics by 18.3% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,029,747 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,811,000 after purchasing an additional 159,393 shares in the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Photronics Price Performance

Shares of PLAB stock opened at $29.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.24 and its 200 day moving average is $27.05. Photronics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.66 and a 1-year high of $34.16. The company has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 1.41.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The semiconductor company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.01). Photronics had a net margin of 15.34% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $216.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Photronics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd.

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.