Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

KLIC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.50.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Trading Up 6.1%

Shares of KLIC opened at $76.80 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -63.47 and a beta of 1.58. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 1 year low of $28.11 and a 1 year high of $77.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $67.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.87.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $199.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.03 million. Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a negative return on equity of 1.13% and a negative net margin of 9.40%.Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.600-0.740 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 19th. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -67.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mui Sung Yeo sold 19,143 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total transaction of $1,377,913.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 78,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,652,013.56. This trade represents a 19.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Zi Yao Lim sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.54, for a total transaction of $71,540.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 22,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,624,959.56. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 106,605 shares of company stock worth $6,780,486. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kulicke and Soffa Industries

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KLIC. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 64,220 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,118,000 after acquiring an additional 5,836 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 168.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 49,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,631,000 after acquiring an additional 31,048 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,080 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 155,842 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,140,000 after acquiring an additional 11,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 55.7% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 66,898 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 23,923 shares in the last quarter. 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.