Yousif Capital Management LLC Buys 322 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,810 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VECO. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 16,723 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.0% in the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 20,754 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 21,426 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,543 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 23,216 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $720,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.57.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $36.37 on Friday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.70 and a twelve month high of $37.75. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.09. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.10% and a negative net margin of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $173.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. Equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $854,295.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,241,712.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

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.