Channing Capital Management LLC Sells 38,770 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Channing Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,869,665 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 38,770 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC owned approximately 3.29% of Veeco Instruments worth $50,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 165.0% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 370,917 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $12,288,000 after purchasing an additional 230,971 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $44,314,000 after purchasing an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,109,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $633,000. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VECO shares. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded up $0.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.48. 514,739 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 674,613. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.05 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32 and a beta of 1.24. The company's 50 day moving average is $24.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.11.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.