Victory Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 493,039 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,824 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $13,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at $50,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the third 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 during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 4,691 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $21.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.05 and a 12 month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

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.