Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) Trading Down 5.8% – Here’s What Happened

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT)’s share price fell 5.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $163.80 and last traded at $164.8530. 65,132 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 544,562 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.08.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CAMT. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Camtek from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research raised Camtek from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Camtek from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Northland Securities cut shares of Camtek from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Camtek in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Camtek presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.75.

Camtek Stock Down 4.1%

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $155.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 7.31 and a current ratio of 8.35. The company has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 163.12, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 1.53.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The semiconductor company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.02). Camtek had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 23.61%. The company had revenue of $128.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Camtek Ltd. will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Camtek

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAMT. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Camtek by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,764 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $507,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Camtek by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,877 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $617,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Camtek by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,576 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,209,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Camtek by 23.8% during the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 952 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Camtek by 202.0% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 299 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 41.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Camtek

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ: CAMT) is a provider of automated inspection and metrology solutions for the semiconductor and printed circuit board (PCB) industries. The company develops, manufactures and markets a suite of inline and stand-alone systems that perform high‐resolution 2D and 3D measurements, defect review and process control. Its products are used by integrated device manufacturers, foundries, OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) providers, and PCB fabricators to optimize yield, improve product quality and reduce production costs.

Camtek’s core offerings include wafer inspection systems that detect and classify defects on patterned wafers, patterned wafer metrology tools for overlay and critical dimension measurements, and advanced packaging inspection platforms for 3D ICs and fan-out wafer-level packaging.