Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on PLAB. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Photronics in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Singular Research upgraded shares of Photronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.00.

Photronics Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ:PLAB traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $21.12. 487,540 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 581,883. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.06. Photronics has a fifty-two week low of $16.46 and a fifty-two week high of $31.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Photronics

In other Photronics news, SVP Han Kyung Park sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.00, for a total transaction of $330,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 103,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,266,000. The trade was a 12.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Paladino sold 42,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.00, for a total value of $1,026,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 33,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $811,152. This represents a 55.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 82,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,800. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Photronics by 699.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,305,610 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,017,052 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 17.2% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,607,874 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,106,000 after purchasing an additional 383,355 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Photronics during the third quarter worth about $8,416,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Photronics by 8.8% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,196,267 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $45,595,000 after buying an additional 177,380 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Photronics in the first quarter valued at about $3,462,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

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.