Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Bought by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 29.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 221,912 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 50,045 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.39% of Veeco Instruments worth $5,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 91,722 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,458,000 after acquiring an additional 23,913 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 13,444 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 59.5% in the fourth quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 116,182 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,115,000 after purchasing an additional 43,340 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 165.8% during the 4th quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 17,812 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 11,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VECO shares. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Benchmark reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.00.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 335,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,095. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.92 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.43. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71 and a beta of 1.12.

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