Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on KLIC. Craig Hallum decreased their price target on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kulicke and Soffa Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.33.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries stock opened at $45.58 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of -43.83 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.14 and its 200 day moving average is $45.28. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 1 year low of $38.20 and a 1 year high of $56.71.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $181.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.28 million. Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a negative net margin of 7.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.61%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post -0.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kulicke and Soffa Industries

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,841,236 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $142,943,000 after purchasing an additional 128,026 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,469,516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $66,319,000 after purchasing an additional 264,638 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 37.2% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,075,790 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $52,918,000 after purchasing an additional 291,787 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 671,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $33,040,000 after purchasing an additional 73,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 648,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $32,619,000 after purchasing an additional 48,590 shares during the last quarter. 98.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Kulicke and Soffa Industries

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.