Federated Hermes Inc. Raises Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 1,032.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 295,187 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 269,125 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.51% of Veeco Instruments worth $5,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth about $14,373,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,748,172 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $73,651,000 after purchasing an additional 531,821 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 278.2% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 432,769 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $11,598,000 after purchasing an additional 318,345 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 125.2% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 349,785 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $9,374,000 after purchasing an additional 194,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3,668.8% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 199,067 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,335,000 after purchasing an additional 193,785 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $225,705.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 89,254 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,829,707. This represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock traded up $2.84 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $22.78. The company had a trading volume of 1,134,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,300. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 4.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.75 and a 200-day moving average of $21.19. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.92 and a 52 week high of $38.88.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.14. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 8.29%. The firm had revenue of $166.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS 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.