AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 45,012 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 54.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,246 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 45,012 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.07% of Veeco Instruments worth $1,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 118,733 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $5,546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 59,986 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,802,000 after buying an additional 14,991 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 124,628 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,821,000 after acquiring an additional 9,140 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 75,551 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,529,000 after acquiring an additional 27,476 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 88.2% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 19,180 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $896,000 after acquiring an additional 8,988 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company'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 transaction of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,472,523.68. This 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 through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $32.73. 395,838 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 666,972. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.38 and a beta of 1.16. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.63 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.21. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 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 analysts' expectations of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. Veeco Instruments's quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.57.

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.