Fisher Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 969,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 185,228 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 1.71% of Veeco Instruments worth $32,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 237.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of VECO opened at $27.13 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on VECO. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. This represents a 2.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 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.