PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS) is Needham Investment Management LLC's Largest Position

Needham Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS - Free Report) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,817,500 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 57,950 shares during the quarter. PDF Solutions comprises about 3.8% of Needham Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Needham Investment Management LLC owned 4.69% of PDF Solutions worth $49,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PDFS. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of PDF Solutions by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,000 shares of the technology company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PDF Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $136,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of PDF Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $160,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of PDF Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $165,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of PDF Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PDFS shares. StockNews.com cut shares of PDF Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of PDF Solutions from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of PDF Solutions from $36.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John Kachig Kibarian bought 34,356 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $22.80 per share, with a total value 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 $57,162,153.60. This trade represents a 1.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael B. Gustafson bought 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.06 per share, with a total value of $92,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,574 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $520,556.44. This trade represents a 21.54% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 45,856 shares of company stock valued at $1,021,432 over the last three months. 11.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PDF Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of PDF Solutions stock traded down $0.79 on Friday, hitting $19.70. 263,934 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 188,945. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.89. PDF Solutions, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.91 and a 52 week high of $39.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $771.04 million, a P/E ratio of 197.00 and a beta of 1.47.

PDF Solutions (NASDAQ:PDFS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $50.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.40 million. PDF Solutions had a net margin of 2.26% and a return on equity of 3.94%. Research analysts expect that PDF Solutions, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current year.

PDF Solutions Company 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.