Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $25.36, but opened at $26.32. Photronics shares last traded at $26.32, with a volume of 2,142 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Photronics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th.

Photronics Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 1.40.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $211.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.00 million. Photronics had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 16.22%. Photronics’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Photronics, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Photronics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Photronics by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,715,429 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $161,861,000 after purchasing an additional 265,533 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Photronics by 17.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,482,856 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,252,000 after buying an additional 364,150 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,368,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,643,000 after buying an additional 10,590 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Photronics by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,990,046 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,094,000 after buying an additional 275,082 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Photronics by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,745,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $43,217,000 after acquiring an additional 85,160 shares in the last quarter. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.