Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) Increases Dividend to $0.21 Per Share

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 19th will be given a dividend of 0.205 per share by the semiconductor company on Tuesday, January 7th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 19th. This is a positive change from Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries has increased its dividend by an average of 15.5% annually over the last three years. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 43.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Trading Up 1.3 %

KLIC opened at $46.19 on Friday. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 12 month low of $38.20 and a 12 month high of $56.71. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of -37.55 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $44.27 and a 200 day moving average of $45.36.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Craig Hallum cut their price target on shares of 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 raised their price objective on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.40.

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.