Sei Investments Co. Sells 45,938 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Sei Investments Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 69.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,060 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 45,938 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 31.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,308,000 after purchasing an additional 30,008 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth $1,965,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,314,000 after acquiring an additional 22,850 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at $633,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on VECO. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup cut 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. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $19.60 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $22.03 and a 200-day moving average of $26.33. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.92 and a 12 month high of $49.25.

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

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 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.