Sei Investments Co. Grows Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 57.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,551 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 27,476 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.13% of Veeco Instruments worth $3,529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $250,800,000 after acquiring an additional 391,346 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,645,701 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $82,096,000 after purchasing an additional 53,715 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $52,924,000 after purchasing an additional 135,687 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $27,933,000 after purchasing an additional 31,482 shares during the period. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 4.5% in the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 384,310 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $13,516,000 after buying an additional 16,557 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VECO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Northland Securities cut 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:VECO traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $32.30. 348,810 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 660,928. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.63 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.27. The firm has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -71.47 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 2.32.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. Veeco Instruments's revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.

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.