The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Decreases Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,845,130 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 46,460 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 3.25% of Veeco Instruments worth $86,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 237.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the first quarter worth $99,000. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth $200,000. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VECO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut Veeco Instruments from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Four 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 an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO traded down $0.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.53. The company had a trading volume of 746,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 663,474. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.63 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.51 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

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.