Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Bought by Westfield Capital Management Co. LP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 319,451 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned about 2.07% of Veeco Instruments worth $38,953,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VECO. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 280.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 38,949 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 28,719 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $27,933,000 after acquiring an additional 31,482 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $250,800,000 after buying an additional 391,346 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth approximately $4,219,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 122.9% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 63,325 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 34,921 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO stock traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $27.97. The stock had a trading volume of 634,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 660,138. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $30.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.75. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.52 and a 52-week high of $49.25.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VECO. Northland Securities cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" 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 Monday, November 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850 in the last three months. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.