Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Boosts Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 165.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 370,917 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 230,971 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned approximately 0.65% of Veeco Instruments worth $12,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at about $217,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 130.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 48,075 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 27,234 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 13.7% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,592 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 1,755 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 47.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 21,468 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 6,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $250,800,000 after buying an additional 391,346 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $26.15 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.99.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The business had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VECO. Benchmark dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.14.

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.