Bank of Montreal Can Buys 7,651 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 170,187 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,651 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $5,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VECO. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,702,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 40.5% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 751,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $24,880,000 after purchasing an additional 216,616 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 969,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $32,126,000 after purchasing an additional 185,228 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 37.3% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,953,000 after purchasing an additional 319,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at $529,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. Northland Securities cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com cut Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective 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. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $29.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41.

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

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.