Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Sold by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 39.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,993 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 7,822 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after purchasing an additional 391,346 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake 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 worth $20,905,000 after buying an additional 153,754 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,933,000 after buying an additional 31,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 249.0% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,271,000 after acquiring an additional 307,348 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Northland Securities lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $27.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $30.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.75. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.52 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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