Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Acquires New Shares in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,859 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.9% during the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.1% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $33.53 on Monday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.63 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of -74.51 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VECO shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Four 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Veeco Instruments

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.