31,158 Shares in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Acquired by Capital Fund Management S.A.

Capital Fund Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 31,158 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $835,000. Capital Fund Management S.A. owned 0.05% of Veeco Instruments as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $14,373,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 388,451 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $10,410,000 after purchasing an additional 27,778 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 26,062 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 11,067 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 62,602 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,678,000 after buying an additional 7,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 221,912 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $5,947,000 after buying an additional 50,045 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of VECO stock traded up $0.20 on Tuesday, hitting $17.81. The stock had a trading volume of 637,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 729,573. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The business has a 50 day moving average of $20.90 and a 200 day moving average of $25.43. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.92 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36 and a beta of 1.12.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $32.00.

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.