Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Cuts Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund decreased its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 74.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 145,000 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned about 0.09% of Veeco Instruments worth $2,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,645,701 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $82,096,000 after purchasing an additional 53,715 shares during the last quarter. Blue Grotto Capital LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter worth about $11,476,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,739,727 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $209,134,000 after buying an additional 49,606 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth about $713,000. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth about $580,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of VECO traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $32.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,280,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 663,258. The company's 50-day moving average is $34.28 and its 200-day moving average is $38.28. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.63 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -73.04 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $175.88 million for 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,472,523.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on VECO shares. Northland Securities decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Veeco Instruments from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.57.

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.