Aviva PLC Sells 37,254 Shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Aviva PLC lowered its holdings in shares of Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB – Get Rating) by 40.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 37,254 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Photronics were worth $936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Skylands Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 213,850 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,599,000 after acquiring an additional 24,500 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Photronics by 72.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 37,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 15,831 shares during the period. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Photronics by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 208,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,501,000 after purchasing an additional 84,000 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Photronics by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 358,800 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,039,000 after buying an additional 87,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Photronics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 148,800 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,504,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. 90.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Photronics Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of PLAB opened at $17.37 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.18. Photronics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.86 and a 12-month high of $25.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.11. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 20th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The company had revenue of $211.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.00 million. Photronics had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 11.20%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Photronics, Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PLAB shares. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Photronics in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Photronics from $21.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Photronics in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th.

Photronics Profile

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Photronics, Inc engages in the provision of photomasks. It manufactures semiconductors and flat-panel displays and is used as masters to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and FPD substrates during the fabrication of integrated circuits, a variety of FPDs and other types of electrical and optical components.