Fisher Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 23.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 969,694 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 185,228 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned 1.71% of Veeco Instruments worth $32,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 0.5% in the second quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,156,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VECO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Benchmark dropped their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $81,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 2.94 % 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. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.40. 225,239 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 658,359. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.68. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.09 and a beta of 1.17. 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 (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $184.80 million for 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 revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.