Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

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

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

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Trading Up 4.8%

Shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries stock opened at $59.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -2,971.51 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $47.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.37. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 1-year low of $26.63 and a 1-year high of $59.79.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The semiconductor company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $177.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.84 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Kulicke and Soffa Industries news, SVP Nelson Munpun Wong sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 126,369 shares in the company, valued at $7,143,639.57. This trade represents a 19.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Zi Yao Lim sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the general counsel directly owned 23,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,067,130. This trade represents a 4.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,004 shares of company stock worth $1,991,450. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kulicke and Soffa Industries

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,348,020 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $81,241,000 after purchasing an additional 409,116 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,313,378 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $80,043,000 after purchasing an additional 392,691 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,645,508 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $56,935,000 after buying an additional 207,899 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 0.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,280,025 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,295,000 after buying an additional 10,722 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 5.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 718,632 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $24,865,000 after buying an additional 37,225 shares during the period. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.