Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 110,825 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 110,825 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Veeco Instruments worth $200,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Inceptionr LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,589 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $17.93 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 1.12. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.11 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Veeco Instruments

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.