Old West Investment Management LLC Buys 38,114 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Old West Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 129.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,632 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,114 shares during the period. Old West Investment Management LLC owned 0.11% of Veeco Instruments worth $2,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at $3,675,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter worth about $679,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 286,501 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,830,000 after buying an additional 4,063 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 76,895 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after acquiring an additional 43,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TradeLink Capital LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth about $296,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VECO. Citigroup upped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.50.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $30.69 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $31.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.29. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.92 and a 52-week high of $35.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a current ratio of 5.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.98 and a beta of 1.19.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.08. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 6.35% and a net margin of 7.23%.The company had revenue of $165.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. Veeco Instruments’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $800,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 464,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,865,376. This represents a 5.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Veeco Instruments Profile

Veeco Instruments Inc (NASDAQ: VECO) is a leading supplier of process equipment for the semiconductor, data storage, wireless communications, power electronics and advanced packaging industries. The company designs, manufactures and services precision tools used to grow, deposit and etch thin films on substrates, enabling the fabrication of chips, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and high-density storage devices. Veeco’s platforms are deployed across fabrication facilities worldwide, where they support key processes in materials science and device manufacturing.

Veeco’s product portfolio spans molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), ion beam etch and deposition, and high-precision wet and dry etch systems.