PDT Partners LLC Acquires 37,778 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Key Points

• PDT Partners LLC has significantly increased its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. by 78.6% in the first quarter, owning 85,818 shares valued at approximately $1.72 million.
• The stock has seen varied activity from other institutional investors, with a total of 98.46% of shares currently owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
• Veeco Instruments reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings with an EPS of $0.36, surpassing analysts' estimates of $0.22, despite a 5.6% decline in revenue year-over-year.

PDT Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 78.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,818 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 37,778 shares during the quarter. PDT Partners LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Veeco Instruments worth $1,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VECO. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,930,315 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $58,841,000 after acquiring an additional 182,143 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.0% in the first quarter. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY now owns 2,380,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $47,790,000 after acquiring an additional 397,200 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 55.8% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 835,539 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $16,778,000 after buying an additional 299,235 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 731,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $19,591,000 after acquiring an additional 53,500 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 35.4% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 667,383 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $13,401,000 after purchasing an additional 174,344 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.33.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ VECO traded up $0.01 on Monday, reaching $24.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 130,641 shares, compared to its average volume of 752,200. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.04 and a beta of 1.23. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.92 and a 52 week high of $34.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $22.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.99. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $166.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.31 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

About Veeco Instruments

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.