Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $13.64 Million Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 508,770 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 17,254 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $13,635,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after acquiring an additional 883,815 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after acquiring an additional 371,221 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised 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 acquiring an additional 319,451 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 40.5% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 751,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $24,880,000 after acquiring an additional 216,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 969,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $32,126,000 after buying an additional 185,228 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $21.16 on Friday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.05 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $23.93 and its 200-day moving average is $27.49. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06 and a beta of 1.24.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. Equities research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current 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.