Swiss National Bank Grows Stock Holdings in PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS)

Swiss National Bank grew its stake in PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 61,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in PDF Solutions were worth $1,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PDFS. KBC Group NV grew its stake in PDF Solutions by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PDF Solutions by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 12,574 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of PDF Solutions by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 56,103 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,519,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of PDF Solutions by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,848 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 1,793 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PDF Solutions by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,500 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,999 shares in the last quarter. 79.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John Kachig Kibarian acquired 34,356 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $22.80 per share, for a total transaction of $783,316.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 2,507,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,162,153.60. This represents a 1.39 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael B. Gustafson acquired 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.06 per share, for a total transaction of $92,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 22,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $520,556.44. The trade was a 21.54 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 11.13% of the company’s stock.

PDF Solutions Price Performance

PDFS opened at $19.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $754.12 million, a PE ratio of 192.80 and a beta of 1.59. The business’s 50-day moving average is $23.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.76. PDF Solutions, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.17 and a 1 year high of $39.70.

PDF Solutions (NASDAQ:PDFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $50.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.40 million. PDF Solutions had a return on equity of 3.94% and a net margin of 2.26%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that PDF Solutions, Inc. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of PDF Solutions in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of PDF Solutions from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th.

PDF Solutions Profile

PDF Solutions, Inc provides proprietary software and physical intellectual property products for integrated circuit designs, electrical measurement hardware tools, proven methodologies, and professional services in the United States, China, Japan, and internationally. The company offers Exensio software products, such as Manufacturing Analytics that store collected data in a common environment with a consistent view for enabling product engineers to identify and analyze production yield, performance, reliability, and other issues; Process Control that provides failure detection and classification capabilities for monitoring, alarming, and controlling manufacturing tool sets; Test Operations that offer data collection and analysis capabilities; and Assembly Operations that provide device manufacturers with the capability to link assembly and packaging data, including fabrication and characterization data over the product life cycle.