Kovack Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in Photronics, Inc. $PLAB

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its position in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 30.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,394 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,044 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. owned 0.06% of Photronics worth $723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Photronics in the second quarter valued at $40,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Photronics in the 1st quarter worth $98,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in Photronics by 36.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,755 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 1,793 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Photronics during the first quarter valued at about $227,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the first quarter worth about $282,000. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on PLAB. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Photronics in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Singular Research upgraded Photronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Insider Transactions at Photronics

In other news, EVP Christopher J. Progler sold 10,000 shares of Photronics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.93, for a total value of $219,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 200,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,398,960.63. The trade was a 4.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kang Jyh Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.33, for a total transaction of $253,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 513,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,003,155.50. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 82,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,800 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Photronics Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Photronics stock opened at $23.90 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $23.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.78. Photronics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.46 and a fifty-two week high of $31.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 1.54.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.12. Photronics had a return on equity of 8.19% and a net margin of 12.67%.The company had revenue of $210.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. Photronics’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Photronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.420-0.480 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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.