Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Holdings Cut by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 28,554 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 4,178 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at $50,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth about $263,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,589 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of VECO stock opened at $21.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $23.64 and its 200-day moving average is $27.26. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.05 and a 1 year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. Equities analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

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.