State Street Corp Acquires 30,008 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 30,008 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 3.68% of Veeco Instruments worth $69,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 50.3% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $87,485,000 after purchasing an additional 883,815 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $73,428,000 after buying an additional 371,221 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 37.3% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $38,953,000 after acquiring an additional 319,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 249.0% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $14,271,000 after acquiring an additional 307,348 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,297,671.14. The trade was a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on VECO shares. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 797,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 655,004. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $25.52 and a one year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 1.15. The business's fifty day moving average price is $28.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.33.

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

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.