Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $52.40.
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KLIC. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Kulicke and Soffa Industries
In other news, CEO Fusen Ernie Chen sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $3,863,200.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert Nestor Chylak sold 11,391 shares of the 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. The trade was a 35.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 221,121 shares of company stock valued at $10,527,843 in the last quarter. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 433.4% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 52,484 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,582,000 after buying an additional 42,644 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 193.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 61,471 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $3,024,000 after purchasing an additional 40,517 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 227,199 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $11,176,000 after purchasing an additional 21,900 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 122,036 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $6,003,000 after purchasing an additional 6,552 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries in the second quarter worth about $237,000. Institutional investors own 98.22% of the company's stock.
Shares of NASDAQ:KLIC opened at $45.21 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $48.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of -36.76 and a beta of 1.37. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a twelve month low of $38.20 and a twelve month high of $56.71.
Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The semiconductor company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.01). Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a negative net margin of 9.77% and a negative return on equity of 0.92%. The business had revenue of $181.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. The company's revenue was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Kulicke and Soffa Industries announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 19th were issued a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 19th. This is an increase from Kulicke and Soffa Industries's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Kulicke and Soffa Industries's payout ratio is -66.67%.
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.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Before you consider Kulicke and Soffa Industries, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Kulicke and Soffa Industries wasn't on the list.
While Kulicke and Soffa Industries currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.