Vanguard Group Inc. Has $200.39 Million Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 110,825 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 13.17% of Veeco Instruments worth $200,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 31.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $69,308,000 after acquiring an additional 30,008 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 87,249 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,891,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,965,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $44,314,000 after purchasing an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 3.3 %

NASDAQ:VECO traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.01. 657,885 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 723,771. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $21.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.14. The firm has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.92 and a twelve month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. On average, research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.43.

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.