Federated Hermes Inc. Purchases 269,125 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 1,032.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 295,187 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 269,125 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.51% of Veeco Instruments worth $5,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 396.2% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 213.9% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 75.9% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,672 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 342.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,807 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 6,817 shares during the period. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VECO. Barclays reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $225,705.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 89,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,829,707. This trade represents a 10.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $20.44 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $20.71 and a 200 day moving average of $21.26. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.92 and a 12 month high of $38.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 4.44 and a quick ratio of 3.02.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 8.29% and a net margin of 8.99%. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Veeco Instruments Company 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.