Eagle Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 336,802 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 75,505 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned 0.59% of Veeco Instruments worth $11,158,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after acquiring an additional 391,346 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,117,000 after purchasing an additional 793,429 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 32.2% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 631,011 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $20,905,000 after buying an additional 153,754 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,933,000 after buying an additional 31,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 249.0% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,271,000 after buying an additional 307,348 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at $2,696,608.46. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $27.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.84. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.52 and a 12-month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 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 business had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veeco Instruments Company 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.