Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC Takes Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 20,272 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,690,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $188,059,000 after acquiring an additional 450,685 shares during the period. Blue Grotto Capital LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $11,476,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 24.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,569,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,129,000 after purchasing an additional 310,390 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $3,599,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,326,385 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $72,189,000 after purchasing an additional 87,605 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $46.92 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $41.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.13. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.63 and a 52-week high of $48.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 3.05 and a quick ratio of 2.02.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $174.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.97% and a negative net margin of 2.51%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on VECO shares. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays raised their target price on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $1,145,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 515,091 shares in the company, valued at $19,671,325.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $1,145,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 515,091 shares in the company, valued at $19,671,325.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dennis Thomas St sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.72, for a total value of $150,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 51,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,956,196.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $1,405,055. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.