ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 1,510 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,082 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,510 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 57.2% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 75,551 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,529,000 after acquiring an additional 27,476 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 88.2% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 19,180 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $896,000 after acquiring an additional 8,988 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 11.2% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 325,698 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $15,213,000 after acquiring an additional 32,850 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter worth about $320,000. Finally, Herald Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. Herald Investment Management Ltd now owns 140,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,537,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VECO. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 1.0 %

VECO opened at $33.53 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -74.51 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.63 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.33.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its 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 analysts’ expectations 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 was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

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

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.