KBC Group NV Has $69,000 Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

KBC Group NV increased its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 46.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth $327,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth about $210,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 32.2% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 631,011 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,905,000 after acquiring an additional 153,754 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $295,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 311,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ VECO opened at $27.40 on Friday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.52 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.84.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VECO. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price 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. Northland Securities lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

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.