Raymond James Financial Inc. Has $16.78 Million Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. by 55.8%, bringing its total share ownership to 835,539 shares valued at approximately $16.78 million.
• Veeco Instruments reported a quarterly EPS of $0.36, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.22, despite a year-over-year revenue decline of 5.6%.
• Analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Veeco Instruments, with an average target price set at $27.33.

Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 55.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 835,539 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 299,235 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 1.43% of Veeco Instruments worth $16,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Versant Capital Management Inc increased 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 213.9% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 33.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,366 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 75.9% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,672 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 46.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,841 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 3.2%

NASDAQ:VECO traded down $0.78 on Tuesday, reaching $23.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 579,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,049,694. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.92 and a 1-year high of $34.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 3.43 and a current ratio of 5.10. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.27 and a beta of 1.23. The business's 50-day moving average price is $22.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.04.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.14. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 8.65%.The firm had revenue of $166.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $151.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $225,705.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 89,254 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,829,707. This represents a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.