Wealthfront Advisers LLC Buys Shares of 1,107,300 Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,107,300 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $29,676,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC owned approximately 1.95% of Veeco Instruments at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 11.0% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,099 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,886 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $20.92 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.05 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 1.24. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $24.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.43.

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.

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