Verition Fund Management LLC Takes Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO – Get Rating) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1,463.5% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,522 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 125.0% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,115 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 146.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,438 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 1,447 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter valued at $100,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 48.7% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,558 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 1,492 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments to $18.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Barclays lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Benchmark lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 13th. Finally, TheStreet raised Veeco Instruments from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $21.24 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.43 and a 200 day moving average of $19.68. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.11 and a 52 week high of $29.54.

About Veeco Instruments

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Veeco Instruments, Inc engages in the development, manufacture, sale and support of semiconductor process equipment. Its technologies consists of metal organic chemical vapor deposition, advanced packaging lithography, wet etch and clean, laser annealing, ion beam, molecular beam epitaxy, wafer inspection, and atomic layer deposition systems.