Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $213,000 Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Everence Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,960 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 660 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VECO. Signaturefd LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 752 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth $50,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the third 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. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 116.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ VECO opened at $28.15 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $27.83 and its 200-day moving average is $33.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85 and a beta of 1.15. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.52 and a 12-month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on VECO shares. Benchmark reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.71.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,297,671.14. This trade represents a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

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.