Citigroup Inc. Decreases Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Citigroup Inc. cut its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 36.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,446 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 63,557 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.19% of Veeco Instruments worth $3,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 29.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 134,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,692,000 after buying an additional 30,646 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 51.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 29,785 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 10,122 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 148.0% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 474,415 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,526,000 after purchasing an additional 283,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the first quarter valued at about $618,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VECO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.62, for a total value of $1,581,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 414,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,107,849.66. This represents a 10.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.6%

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $31.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of 53.97 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.92 and a 12 month high of $35.77. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.50. The company has a current ratio of 4.75, a quick ratio of 3.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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.