Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Cuts Position in Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Kulicke and Soffa Industries were worth $1,191,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLIC. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 8.1% during the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 205,299 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,329,000 after purchasing an additional 15,350 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 813.0% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 95,606 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,810,000 after buying an additional 85,134 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 460,704 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,178,000 after buying an additional 97,278 shares during the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 648,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $32,619,000 after acquiring an additional 48,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 22.0% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,469,516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $66,319,000 after acquiring an additional 264,638 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLIC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Craig Hallum reduced their price objective on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.33.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of KLIC opened at $45.58 on Friday. Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.20 and a 12-month high of $56.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.83 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.26.

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

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -76.92%.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries 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.