Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $4.89 Million Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 240,736 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,003 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.40% of Veeco Instruments worth $4,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 396.2% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 213.9% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 2,139 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 33.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,366 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 75.9% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,672 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $625,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 470,671 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,766,775. This trade represents a 5.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 4,046 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.00, for a total value of $105,196.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 86,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,239,484. The trade was a 4.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,060 shares of company stock valued at $850,616 in the last quarter. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VECO. Benchmark lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.33.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.1%

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $29.27 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.92 and a 52 week high of $34.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 3.43 and a current ratio of 5.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.70 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.43.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.14. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 8.65%.The business had revenue of $166.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current 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.