Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Zacks Research lowered Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $39.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a research note on Friday, November 21st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Stock Performance

Shares of KLIC opened at $57.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2,876.06 and a beta of 1.63. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.68. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 1 year low of $26.63 and a 1 year high of $60.00.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The semiconductor company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.06. Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a net margin of 0.03% and a negative return on equity of 1.64%. The firm 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 company earned $0.34 EPS. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Kulicke and Soffa Industries

In other Kulicke and Soffa Industries news, SVP Nelson Munpun Wong sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 126,369 shares in the company, valued at $7,143,639.57. This represents a 19.19% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,067,130. This trade represents a 4.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,004 shares of company stock valued at $1,991,450. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 24,655 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 1.7% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 22,897 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $792,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ifrah Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 3.0% during the second quarter. Ifrah Financial Services Inc. now owns 13,433 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.