Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (KLIC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.21 on April 8th

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 6th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.205 per share by the semiconductor company on Tuesday, April 8th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.9% annually over the last three years. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a payout ratio of 36.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Kulicke and Soffa Industries to earn $1.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.82 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.4%.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of KLIC stock opened at $38.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 317.08 and a beta of 1.38. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 52-week low of $36.13 and a 52-week high of $53.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.63.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a negative return on equity of 1.26% and a net margin of 0.48%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Robert Nestor Chylak sold 11,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.52, for a total value of $564,082.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,838 shares in the company, valued at $1,031,897.76. This represents a 35.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on KLIC shares. StockNews.com raised Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.00.

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 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.