Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Sold by Hosking Partners LLP

Hosking Partners LLP lowered its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,572 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 12,776 shares during the period. Hosking Partners LLP owned approximately 0.14% of Veeco Instruments worth $2,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VECO. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 11.0% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,099 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,886 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.9 %

VECO stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.43. 869,699 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 658,135. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.87. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28 and a beta of 1.13. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.12 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

About Veeco Instruments

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.