Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 81,024 PDF Solutions, Inc. $PDFS

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc acquired 81,024 PDF Solutions shares valued at approximately $5.7 million, while institutional investors collectively own 79.51% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is generally positive: PDF Solutions has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $63 average price target, compared with its reported opening price of $43.46.
• PDF Solutions met quarterly earnings expectations with adjusted EPS of $0.27 and revenue of $61.53 million, slightly above analyst forecasts; insiders, however, recently sold shares.

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 81,024 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $5,733,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.20% of PDF Solutions at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PDF Solutions in the 2nd quarter worth about $392,908,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new position in PDF Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at about $93,416,000. Ranger Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in PDF Solutions in the second quarter valued at about $81,384,000. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in PDF Solutions by 171.9% during the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,380,739 shares of the technology company's stock worth $97,743,000 after buying an additional 873,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ophir Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of PDF Solutions during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,631,000. 79.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PDF Solutions

In other PDF Solutions news, CTO Andrzej Strojwas sold 3,394 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.41, for a total transaction of $150,727.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 90,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,039,755.65. The trade was a 3.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Shuo Zhang sold 1,501 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.47, for a total transaction of $77,256.47. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,203,368.60. The trade was a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 11.08% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PDFS. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on PDF Solutions in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded PDF Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of PDF Solutions in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on PDF Solutions in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded PDF Solutions from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PDF Solutions presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.00.

PDF Solutions Price Performance

PDFS opened at $43.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 3.45 and a quick ratio of 3.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 173.84 and a beta of 1.64. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $50.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.94. PDF Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $19.07 and a one year high of $71.68.

PDF Solutions (NASDAQ:PDFS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.27. The firm had revenue of $61.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $61.17 million. PDF Solutions had a net margin of 4.27% and a return on equity of 7.21%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that PDF Solutions, Inc. will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PDF Solutions Company Profile

PDF Solutions, Inc, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a technology company that provides data-driven solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Founded in 1991, the company specializes in software and services designed to improve yield, productivity and profitability for semiconductor fabricators. Over its history, PDF Solutions has positioned itself as a partner to foundries, integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), assembly and test operations, offering tailored data analytics and engineering expertise.

The company's flagship offering, the Exensio platform, aggregates and analyzes data from process equipment, metrology and inspection systems to identify yield-limiting defects and process excursions.

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