Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Stock Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 12.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,733 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,577 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.39% of Veeco Instruments worth $4,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VECO. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 163,066 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after acquiring an additional 6,125 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 778,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,858,000 after acquiring an additional 147,269 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 327,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,787,000 after acquiring an additional 16,001 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 433,440 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,616,000 after acquiring an additional 2,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $415,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. Wall Street Zen raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.43.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $225,705.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 89,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,829,707. This trade represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $20.43 on Monday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $16.92 and a one year high of $49.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $19.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 1.11.

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

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.