Synovus Financial Corp Acquires Shares of 19,117 Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Synovus Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 19,117 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $633,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VECO. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 39.4% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,602 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 2,433 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at $1,145,000. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during 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 buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shaker Investments LLC OH bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,086,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO traded down $0.09 on Wednesday, hitting $27.92. 797,406 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 655,004. The business has a 50-day moving average of $28.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.52 and a 12 month high of $49.25.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,297,671.14. This trade represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced 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, StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.14.

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.