Baillie Gifford & Co. Buys 153,754 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 32.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 631,011 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 153,754 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 1.11% of Veeco Instruments worth $20,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3,213.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. Benchmark decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.30. 550,068 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 660,947. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.04 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10 and a beta of 1.17. The business's fifty day moving average price is $30.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.38.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,472,523.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

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.