Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Camtek Put Options (NASDAQ:CAMT)

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 4,034 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 229% compared to the typical volume of 1,225 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CAMT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Camtek from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Camtek in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Camtek in a research report on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.75.

Camtek Trading Down 5.7 %

NASDAQ:CAMT opened at $74.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 5.66 and a quick ratio of 4.77. Camtek has a fifty-two week low of $25.25 and a fifty-two week high of $90.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $80.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 46.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.41.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The semiconductor company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $88.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.02 million. Camtek had a return on equity of 18.92% and a net margin of 24.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Camtek will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Camtek Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a Variable dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $1.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Camtek’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Camtek by 574.2% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Camtek in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. USA Financial Formulas lifted its stake in Camtek by 1,436.2% in the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 722 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Camtek by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 1,725 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Camtek by 431.5% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,940 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. 41.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Camtek Company Profile

Camtek Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells inspection and metrology equipment for semiconductor industry. The company provides Eagle-i, a system that delivers 2D inspection and metrology capabilities; Eagle-AP, which addresses the advanced packaging market using software and hardware technologies that deliver superior 2D and 3D inspection and metrology capabilities on the same platform; and Golden Eagle, a panel inspection and metrology system to address the challenges fanout wafer level packaging applications.