Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 49,606 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,739,727 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 49,606 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Veeco Instruments worth $209,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter worth about $237,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 8,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 3,304 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Finally, Intrust Bank NA increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 13,717 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total value of $108,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 2,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,026.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total value of $108,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,026.13. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO William John Miller sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $1,145,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 515,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,671,325.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,405,055. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $47.19 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -104.86 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.24. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.63 and a 12-month high of $48.48.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.97% and a negative net margin of 2.51%. The company had revenue of $174.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.00 million. Equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.