Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Invests $475,000 in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 17,723 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 311,886 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $10,333,000 after buying an additional 2,583 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 284,686 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $7,786,000 after buying an additional 11,483 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 199,156 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,337,000 after buying an additional 24,779 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,589 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,886 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VECO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ VECO traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $21.40. The stock had a trading volume of 107,131 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,848. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.17. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.92 and a 1 year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $167.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $166.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share 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.