Raymond James & Associates Purchases 2,822 Shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,787 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,822 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries were worth $1,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KLIC. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 22.8% during the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 309,681 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $15,060,000 after purchasing an additional 57,418 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,207 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,168,000 after buying an additional 47,903 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,259,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 22.1% in the third quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 613,657 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,842,000 after buying an additional 111,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 26.8% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 153,064 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,444,000 after acquiring an additional 32,383 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, TheStreet cut shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Stock Performance

KLIC opened at $46.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.21 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.95 and a 200 day moving average of $49.30. Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.20 and a fifty-two week high of $60.20.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The semiconductor company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $171.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.00 million. Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a net margin of 7.03% and a return on equity of 8.55%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s payout ratio is currently 88.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kulicke and Soffa Industries news, SVP Robert Nestor Chylak sold 8,771 shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.97, for a total value of $429,515.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 24,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Profile

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.