Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC Sells 19,750 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 94.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,100 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 19,750 shares during the quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC's holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $36,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the 3rd 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 period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the third 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.9 %

Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.24 on Friday, hitting $27.87. 490,422 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 620,303. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64 and a beta of 1.17. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $29.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.47. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The company 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 firm's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

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.