Millennium Management LLC Purchases 128,179 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 203.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 191,316 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 128,179 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned approximately 0.34% of Veeco Instruments worth $5,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $204,000. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,009 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 3,548 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.03 on Monday, reaching $19.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 571,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 748,493. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.92 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $19.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.31.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.43.

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.