UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Has $4.42 Million Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 164,871 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 24,154 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.29% of Veeco Instruments worth $4,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VECO. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 163,066 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $4,370,000 after buying an additional 6,125 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 778,280 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $20,858,000 after buying an additional 147,269 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 327,887 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $8,787,000 after buying an additional 16,001 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 433,440 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $11,616,000 after purchasing an additional 2,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter worth about $415,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.57. 453,730 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 748,423. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $19.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.19. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.92 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Veeco Instruments's quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on VECO shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC dropped 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 dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a 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. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.