Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $24.88 Million Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 40.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 751,003 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 216,616 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 1.32% of Veeco Instruments worth $24,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted 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 buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.50 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $27.63. 602,588 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 660,039. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.09 and a beta of 1.17. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $30.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.68. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.52 and a 1-year high of $49.25.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

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.