Kulicke & Soffa raises dividend to lift implied yield above the S&P 500's

Shares of Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (NAS:KLIC) rose 0.6% in premarket trading Monday, after the Singapore-based semiconductor company said it has raised its quarterly dividend by 21.4%. The new quarterly dividend of 17 cents a share, up from 14 cents, will be payable Jan. 10 to shareholders of record on Dec. 23. Based on Friday's stock closing price of $49.20, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 1.38%, which compares with the yield for the VanEck Semiconductor ETF's (NAS:SMH) yield of 0.57% and the implied yield for the S&P 500 (S&P:SPX) of 1.35%. The stock's gain bucked the weakness in Kulicke & Soffa's peers and the broader stock market, as the semiconductor ETF dropped 0.8% in premarket trading while futures (CME:ES00) for the S&P 500 fell 0.5%.