Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,360,000 shares, an increase of 10.8% from the March 15th total of 2,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 438,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days. Approximately 8.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CAMT shares. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Camtek in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on Camtek from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Camtek presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.14.

Camtek Price Performance

NASDAQ CAMT opened at $78.53 on Monday. Camtek has a 52 week low of $24.81 and a 52 week high of $90.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.48, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 5.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.45.

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

Camtek Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a $1.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. Camtek’s dividend payout ratio is 82.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Camtek

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAMT. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Camtek by 574.2% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Camtek in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. USA Financial Formulas boosted its stake in Camtek by 1,436.2% in the 4th 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 period. Optimum Investment Advisors boosted its stake in Camtek by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 1,725 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Camtek by 431.5% in the 3rd 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 period. 41.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.