Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Sold by Two Sigma Advisers LP

Two Sigma Advisers LP reduced its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 25.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 174,875 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 59,000 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned about 0.31% of Veeco Instruments worth $4,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth $204,000. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $220,000. Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter valued at $263,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 54.9% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of VECO traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.47. The company had a trading volume of 81,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,339. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $16.92 and a one year high of $49.25. The company's fifty day moving average price is $19.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.47. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.74 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $166.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Veeco Instruments's revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.43.

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.