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

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 3,142 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 285% compared to the typical volume of 817 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Camtek

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAMT. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Camtek in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in Camtek by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 9,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $775,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Camtek by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 57,752 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,665,000 after purchasing an additional 17,637 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Camtek by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 21,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,765,000 after purchasing an additional 3,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Camtek during the 4th quarter valued at $2,290,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CAMT. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Camtek from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Northland Securities set a $105.00 price objective on Camtek in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Camtek from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Camtek from $110.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Camtek from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Camtek currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.56.

Camtek Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Camtek stock opened at $82.09 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 5.28, a quick ratio of 4.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.43. Camtek has a 12-month low of $47.41 and a 12-month high of $140.50. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.29.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The semiconductor company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.02. Camtek had a net margin of 28.40% and a return on equity of 24.57%. The firm had revenue of $118.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Camtek will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.