Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Sunday morning.

KLIC has been the topic of several other reports. B. Riley restated a “neutral” rating and set a $39.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a report on Friday, November 21st. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ KLIC opened at $58.14 on Friday. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a twelve month low of $26.63 and a twelve month high of $60.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2,905.55 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $49.37 and its 200-day moving average is $42.02.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The semiconductor company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $177.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.84 million. Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a negative return on equity of 1.64% and a net margin of 0.03%.The firm’s revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -4,100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kulicke and Soffa Industries news, SVP Nelson Munpun Wong sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.53, for a total transaction of $1,695,900.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 126,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,143,639.57. This represents a 19.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Zi Yao Lim sold 1,000 shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $45,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 23,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,130. This trade represents a 4.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,204 shares of company stock worth $2,003,450. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kulicke and Soffa Industries

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 24,458 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries during the fourth quarter worth approximately $205,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 29,889 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 35.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 35,553 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 9,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries during the 4th quarter valued at $10,278,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

About Kulicke and Soffa Industries

Kulicke & Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) is a global supplier of semiconductor and LED assembly equipment. The company specializes in the design, development and manufacture of advanced die bonding, wire bonding, flip-chip bumping and wafer-level packaging systems. Its solutions support a wide range of applications in consumer electronics, automotive, communications and other high-growth segments within the semiconductor and LED industries.

Key products include precision wire bonders for microelectronic packaging, die attach systems for chip placement, flip-chip bonders for advanced packaging architectures and LED packaging platforms that enable high-volume production of automotive and general-illumination LEDs.