Short Interest in Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) Rises By 5.3%

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) saw a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,790,000 shares, an increase of 5.3% from the December 15th total of 3,600,000 shares. Approximately 13.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 499,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Camtek

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CAMT. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Camtek by 78.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 329 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Camtek during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Camtek by 23,300.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Camtek in the second quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Susquehanna International Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Camtek in the second quarter valued at $237,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.93% of the company’s stock.

Camtek Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CAMT traded up $4.68 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $103.62. 921,899 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 435,921. Camtek has a 52 week low of $69.83 and a 52 week high of $140.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a PE ratio of 47.75, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $80.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 5.28 and a quick ratio of 4.36.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. Camtek had a return on equity of 24.21% and a net margin of 26.53%. The business had revenue of $112.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.51 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Camtek will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAMT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Camtek in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Camtek from $102.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised Camtek from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Camtek in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Camtek from $140.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Camtek currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.44.

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.