Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Acquired by Deutsche Bank AG

Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 44.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,700 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 18,439 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.11% of Veeco Instruments worth $1,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,589 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,886 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 163,066 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $4,370,000 after buying an additional 6,125 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 778,280 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $20,858,000 after acquiring an additional 147,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 327,887 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $8,787,000 after acquiring an additional 16,001 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VECO. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on 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 lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $19.79. 555,392 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 745,944. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.92 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.47.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. The firm had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Veeco Instruments's quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.