Royce & Associates LP Buys 14,370 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 373,643 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 14,370 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.66% of Veeco Instruments worth $12,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $26.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.19. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.23 and a twelve month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The firm had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Northland Securities cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Profile

Veeco Instruments Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, China, Rest of the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers laser annealing, ion beam deposition and etch, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, single wafer wet processing and surface preparation, molecular beam epitaxy, advanced packaging lithography, atomic layer deposition, and other deposition systems.