Empire Life Investments Inc. Acquires Shares of 17,397 Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV)

Key Points

• Empire Life Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Veeva Systems Inc., purchasing 17,397 shares valued at approximately $4.03 million during the first quarter.
• Numerous institutional investors have also increased their positions in Veeva, leading to an overall ownership of 88.20% of the company’s stock by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Analysts have generally issued positive ratings on Veeva Systems, with the stock receiving multiple upgrades and a consensus price target of $274.17 reflecting optimistic market sentiment.

Empire Life Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 17,397 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $4,030,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VEEV. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Veeva Systems in the fourth quarter worth $685,355,000. Stockbridge Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veeva Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $137,260,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Veeva Systems by 413.3% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 638,380 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $134,219,000 after acquiring an additional 514,004 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeva Systems by 26,258.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 422,261 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $97,808,000 after acquiring an additional 420,659 shares during the period. Finally, Linonia Partnership LP boosted its holdings in shares of Veeva Systems by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. Linonia Partnership LP now owns 1,202,972 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $252,925,000 after acquiring an additional 356,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VEEV has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Veeva Systems from $265.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Veeva Systems from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Veeva Systems from $217.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Veeva Systems from $201.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Veeva Systems from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $274.17.

Veeva Systems Stock Performance

NYSE VEEV traded up $0.79 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $282.25. The stock had a trading volume of 778,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,243,365. Veeva Systems Inc. has a 12 month low of $182.21 and a 12 month high of $296.72. The company has a market capitalization of $46.12 billion, a PE ratio of 59.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.95. The company's 50-day moving average price is $281.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $247.91.

Veeva Systems (NYSE:VEEV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The technology company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.23. Veeva Systems had a return on equity of 13.96% and a net margin of 27.34%. The business had revenue of $759.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Veeva Systems Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeva Systems

In related news, SVP Jonathan Faddis sold 720 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.62, for a total transaction of $205,646.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,902 shares in the company, valued at $2,256,969.24. This represents a 8.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Priscilla Hung sold 171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.40, for a total value of $48,632.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,127,930.40. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,378 shares of company stock valued at $394,217. 10.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Veeva Systems Company Profile

Veeva Systems Inc provides cloud-based software for the life sciences industry. It offers Veeva Commercial Cloud, a suite of software and analytics solutions, such as Veeva customer relationship management (CRM) that enable customer-facing employees at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; Veeva Vault PromoMats, an end-to-end content and digital asset management solution; Veeva Vault Medical that provides source of medical content across multiple channels and geographies; Veeva Crossix, an analytics platform for pharmaceutical brands; Veeva OpenData, a customer reference data solution; Veeva Link, a data application that allows link to generate real-time intelligence; and Veeva Compass includes de-identified and longitudinal patient data for the United States.