Wasatch Advisors LP Acquires 53,715 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,645,701 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 53,715 shares during the quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP owned 4.70% of Veeco Instruments worth $82,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RK Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. RK Capital Management LLC now owns 440,100 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $13,656,000 after acquiring an additional 16,300 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $52,924,000 after acquiring an additional 135,687 shares during the last quarter. Crestline Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 155.7% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 109,286 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,391,000 after purchasing an additional 66,544 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at $1,028,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 291.6% in the 4th quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 20,950 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $650,000 after purchasing an additional 15,600 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of VECO stock traded up $0.76 on Monday, hitting $43.54. The stock had a trading volume of 684,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 527,758. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.73 and a 200 day moving average of $34.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -96.75 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 3.05 and a quick ratio of 2.02. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.63 and a 12-month high of $44.39.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $174.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a negative net margin of 2.51% and a positive return on equity of 11.97%. As a group, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total transaction of $170,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,179.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at $2,294,179.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis Thomas St sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.72, for a total transaction of $150,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 51,861 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,956,196.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 63,201 shares of company stock worth $2,321,375 over the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VECO shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.71.

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.

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