Eagle Asset Management Inc. Sells 75,505 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 336,802 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 75,505 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.59% of Veeco Instruments worth $11,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $250,800,000 after purchasing an additional 391,346 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 249.0% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $14,271,000 after acquiring an additional 307,348 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 165.0% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 370,917 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $12,288,000 after purchasing an additional 230,971 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at about $8,857,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ:VECO traded up $0.86 on Friday, hitting $27.40. 721,976 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 682,656. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.52 and a 52 week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 80,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,297,671.14. This trade represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veeco Instruments Company 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.