UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Trims Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lowered its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 71.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 140,717 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 352,175 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.25% of Veeco Instruments worth $4,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 116.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on VECO shares. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 2.8 %

Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $27.74. 468,814 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 657,007. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $29.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.79. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.52 and a 52-week high of $49.25. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other 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 value 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. This trade represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veeco Instruments 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.