Sei Investments Co. Purchases 27,476 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 57.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,551 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 27,476 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.13% of Veeco Instruments worth $3,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after acquiring an additional 391,346 shares during the period. Blue Grotto Capital LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,476,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at $8,857,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 8.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 135,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 132.1% during 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. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup cut Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.9 %

VECO stock opened at $32.47 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.63 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -72.16 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50 day moving average is $34.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.27.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The firm had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

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

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.