Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 11,604 Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,604 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VECO. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 95.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 32,732 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,084,000 after buying an additional 16,012 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 47.0% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 8,922 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 2,853 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $529,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 969,694 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $32,126,000 after acquiring an additional 185,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 751,003 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $24,880,000 after purchasing an additional 216,616 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.53 on Friday, reaching $20.38. 572,205 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 707,040. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $23.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.96 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.24.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VECO. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.43.

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.