Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) released its earnings results on Thursday. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $202.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $200.17 million. Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a return on equity of 8.92% and a net margin of 7.70%. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s quarterly revenue was down 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLIC opened at $50.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.16 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $46.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.17. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 1 year low of $40.20 and a 1 year high of $60.20.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 21st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 20th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. This is an increase from Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLIC has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. B. Riley increased their price objective on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Craig Hallum raised Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kulicke and Soffa Industries news, CEO Fusen Ernie Chen sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.11, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,094,380 shares in the company, valued at $51,556,241.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Fusen Ernie Chen sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.11, for a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,094,380 shares in the company, valued at $51,556,241.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Robert Nestor Chylak sold 4,084 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.88, for a total value of $199,625.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,487.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,109,800 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $93,380,000 after acquiring an additional 663,192 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 4.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,058,052 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $115,628,000 after buying an additional 95,909 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,039,533 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $90,270,000 after buying an additional 324,706 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,198,224 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $53,033,000 after buying an additional 10,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 717,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $31,750,000 after buying an additional 14,999 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.49% of the company’s stock.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Company Profile

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells capital equipment and tools used to assemble semiconductor devices. It operates through two segments, Capital Equipment, and Aftermarket Products and Services (APS). The company manufactures and sells advanced displays; die-transfer, flip-chip, and TCB advanced packaging products; ball bonder, die-attach, electronics assembly, lithography, wafer-level bonder, and wedge bonder products; consumables, such as capillaries, dicing blades, and wedge bonds; and auto offline programming, KNet PLUS, and new product introduction/manufacturing execution system software products.