Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 536,304 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,373,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.94% of Veeco Instruments at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,314,000 after acquiring an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth $633,000. 272 Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at $50,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 311,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,333,000 after acquiring an additional 2,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 284,686 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,786,000 after acquiring an additional 11,483 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $17.61 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $21.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 1.12. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $16.92 and a one year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. Research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were 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 owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

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.