Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 12.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 223,733 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,577 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.39% of Veeco Instruments worth $4,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VECO. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth $14,373,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,609 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $847,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 10,288.7% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,817 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 13,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $200,391,000 after acquiring an additional 110,825 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $225,705.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,254 shares in the company, valued at $1,829,707. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $21.17. 542,556 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 747,253. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07 and a beta of 1.11. The business's fifty day moving average is $19.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.93. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $16.92 and a one year high of $49.25. 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 (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.43.

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.