EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Purchases 43,340 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 59.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,182 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,340 shares during the quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. owned 0.20% of Veeco Instruments worth $3,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $200,391,000 after buying an additional 110,825 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $87,485,000 after acquiring an additional 883,815 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $73,428,000 after purchasing an additional 371,221 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $69,308,000 after purchasing an additional 30,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased 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 research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Benchmark reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $32.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.64 on Friday, hitting $20.28. The stock had a trading volume of 179,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 704,145. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.97 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The business's 50 day moving average is $23.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.21.

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

Veeco Instruments Company 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.