Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Position Boosted by State Street Corp

State Street Corp boosted its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 30,008 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 3.68% of Veeco Instruments worth $69,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.5% in the second quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $28.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $28.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.38. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.52 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.75 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $81,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

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.