Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on PLAB. Zacks Research upgraded Photronics to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Freedom Capital raised Photronics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Photronics from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.33.

Photronics Stock Performance

PLAB opened at $27.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.88 and a 200 day moving average of $35.38. Photronics has a fifty-two week low of $20.05 and a fifty-two week high of $56.00.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $216.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.75 million. Photronics had a net margin of 19.05% and a return on equity of 7.45%. Photronics’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. Photronics has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.560 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Photronics will post 1.90 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kang Lee sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.70, for a total value of $297,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 354,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,539,045. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Han Park sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.37, for a total transaction of $288,515.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 66,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,004,420. This represents a 12.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 37,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,114,265 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Photronics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLAB. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Photronics by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 7,174 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. LVZ Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Photronics by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 21,966 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $888,000 after buying an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Photronics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

About Photronics

Photronics, Inc (NASDAQ: PLAB) is a manufacturer of photomasks, precision quartz and glass plates used to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and display panels during the manufacturing process. Its products are essential to the production of integrated circuits and flat-panel displays.

The company provides photomasks for a range of semiconductor applications, including advanced logic, memory and other specialized devices. It also supplies photomasks used in flat-panel display manufacturing, supporting technologies such as liquid-crystal displays and other display formats.