Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Bought by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 8.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 176,679 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,613 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.30% of Veeco Instruments worth $3,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $204,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 9,391 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on VECO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $20.43. 456,413 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 748,075. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.92 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The business's 50 day moving average price is $19.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $225,705.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,829,707. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

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.