Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a research note on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a report on Friday, November 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kulicke and Soffa Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Stock Performance

Shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries stock traded down $0.43 on Tuesday, hitting $59.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 89,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 779,737. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2,943.53 and a beta of 1.63. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 1 year low of $26.63 and a 1 year high of $60.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.37.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The semiconductor company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.06. Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a negative return on equity of 1.64% and a net margin of 0.03%.The business had revenue of $177.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.84 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kulicke and Soffa Industries

In other news, SVP Nelson Munpun Wong sold 30,000 shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.53, for a total value of $1,695,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 126,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,143,639.57. The trade was a 19.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Zi Yao Lim sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $45,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 23,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,067,130. The trade was a 4.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,004 shares of company stock valued at $1,991,450. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 607,136 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,661,000 after acquiring an additional 175,744 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in the fourth quarter worth $245,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 361.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 73,988 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,371,000 after acquiring an additional 57,948 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 21,894 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $997,000 after acquiring an additional 1,933 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Company Profile

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.