Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank trimmed its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 10.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 111,021 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 13,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.22% of Veeco Instruments worth $2,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 24.6% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 174,179 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,680,000 after purchasing an additional 34,418 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 470.9% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 8.8% during the first quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 22,701 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 1,839 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 20.7% during the first quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 370,005 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,818,000 after purchasing an additional 63,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 17.9% during the first quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 20,041 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 3,041 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $28.72 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.11 and a 1-year high of $31.09. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.61.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.51% and a return on equity of 10.50%. The business had revenue of $161.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.50 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 4,671 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $140,130.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,793 shares in the company, valued at $2,303,790. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Veeco Instruments news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 4,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $140,130.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,793 shares in the company, valued at $2,303,790. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Susan Wilkerson sold 1,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total transaction of $44,045.54. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,057 shares in the company, valued at $1,283,673.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,717 shares of company stock valued at $229,251. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $32.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $20.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, September 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $25.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.17.

Veeco Instruments Profile

Veeco Instruments Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices worldwide. 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, and atomic layer deposition and other deposition systems, as well as packaging lithography equipment.