GSA Capital Partners LLP Buys Shares of 8,899 Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 8,899 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VECO. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,720 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 915 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price 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. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $27.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.85. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.52 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.