Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 13,182 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 341,069 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 13,182 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $6,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $200,391,000 after purchasing an additional 110,825 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,792,850 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $74,848,000 after purchasing an additional 152,201 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,748,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,651,000 after purchasing an additional 531,821 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,242,750 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $60,107,000 after acquiring an additional 78,884 shares during the period. Finally, Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 731,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,591,000 after acquiring an additional 53,500 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $225,705.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 89,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,829,707. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $20.75 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.92 and a 1 year high of $47.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.39 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 4.44 and a quick ratio of 3.02.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 8.29%. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.43.

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.