Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $52.00.

KLIC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a research note on Thursday.

Insider Activity at Kulicke and Soffa Industries

In other news, SVP Robert Nestor Chylak sold 11,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.52, for a total transaction of $564,082.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,031,897.76. This represents a 35.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fusen Ernie Chen sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $3,863,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,100,765 shares in the company, valued at $53,155,941.85. The trade was a 6.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 221,121 shares of company stock worth $10,527,843 in the last three months. 3.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kulicke and Soffa Industries

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 19,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $891,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 341 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 36,329 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,695,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its position in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,384 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 61.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLIC opened at $41.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.78 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.17. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a twelve month low of $38.20 and a twelve month high of $53.71.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a negative net margin of 9.77% and a negative return on equity of 0.92%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 19th were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 19th. This is a positive change from Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s dividend payout ratio is -66.67%.

About Kulicke and Soffa Industries

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells capital equipment and tools used to assemble semiconductor devices. It operates through four segments: Ball Bonding Equipment, Wedge Bonding Equipment, Advanced Solutions, and Aftermarket Products and Services (APS). The company offers ball bonding equipment, wafer level bonding equipment, wedge bonding equipment; and advanced display, die-attach, and thermocompression systems and solutions, as well as tools, spares and services for equipment.