Deutsche Bank AG Boosts Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 44.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,700 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 18,439 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.11% of Veeco Instruments worth $1,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at $14,373,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $200,391,000 after acquiring an additional 110,825 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 493,039 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,213,000 after acquiring an additional 64,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 191.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,137 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 19,140 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.2%

VECO stock opened at $19.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.69. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.92 and a 52 week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The firm had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on VECO. Benchmark cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.43.

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.