Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 10.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 428,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 50,473 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $14,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 worth $250,800,000 after acquiring an additional 391,346 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 249.0% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,271,000 after acquiring an additional 307,348 shares during the period. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,857,000. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 32.2% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 631,011 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,905,000 after acquiring an additional 153,754 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were 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 owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $25.99 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.70 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on VECO. Oppenheimer cut their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

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.