10,645 Shares in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Purchased by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired 10,645 shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. during Q1, valued at approximately $214,000, as reported in its latest SEC filing.
• Veeco Instruments reported earnings of $0.36 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, although revenue decreased by 5.6% year over year.
• The company's stock has seen target price adjustments from various analysts, with Benchmark reducing it from $31.00 to $28.00 while maintaining a "buy" rating.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,645 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 396.2% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 213.9% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 2,139 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 33.6% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,366 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 847 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 75.9% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,672 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the period. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at $220,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on VECO. Benchmark lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. 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, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.33.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.50 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.78. The company had a trading volume of 215,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 739,123. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.92 and a 52 week high of $38.88. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $21.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 5.10, a quick ratio of 3.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $166.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $151.31 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 8.65%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $225,705.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 89,254 shares in the company, valued at $1,829,707. This trade represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.