Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 1.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 309,303 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 5,990 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $14,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $250,800,000 after buying an additional 391,346 shares during the period. Blue Grotto Capital LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,476,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,924,000 after acquiring an additional 135,687 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 132.1% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 195,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,858,000 after purchasing an additional 111,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,326,385 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $72,189,000 after purchasing an additional 87,605 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.46, for a total transaction of $121,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 94,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,594,444.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO stock opened at $31.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.78 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.77. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.63 and a twelve month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VECO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup cut Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.57.

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.