Trexquant Investment LP Has $3.09 Million Stock Holdings in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Trexquant Investment LP lifted its stake in Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) by 98.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 98,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,792 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.16% of Photronics worth $3,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Photronics by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,321,531 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $107,548,000 after buying an additional 186,718 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Photronics by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,769,232 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $149,613,000 after purchasing an additional 379,593 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Photronics by 88.3% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,560,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $31,532,000 after acquiring an additional 731,793 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Photronics by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,397,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,855,000 after acquiring an additional 547,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Photronics by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,115,690 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,548,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222 shares during the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Photronics Price Performance

PLAB stock traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.38. The company had a trading volume of 467,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 381,635. Photronics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.03 and a 1 year high of $34.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.75.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 22nd. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.09). Photronics had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company had revenue of $217.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.1 EPS 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.