American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. by 70.2%, owning 37,390 shares valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 15,427 shares.
• Veeco Instruments' quarterly earnings exceeded expectations with an EPS of $0.36, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22, despite a 5.6% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.
• Research analysts have adjusted their ratings for Veeco Instruments, with Goldman Sachs lowering its target price to $20.00 while Needham raised it to $30.00, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 70.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,390 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,427 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.06% of Veeco Instruments worth $751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 396.2% during 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 period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 213.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,139 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 2,139 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,366 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 75.9% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,672 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 46.3% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $625,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 470,671 shares in the company, valued at $11,766,775. The trade was a 5.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VECO has been the topic of several research reports. Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.33.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ:VECO traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $25.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,117,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 838,871. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.74 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 3.43 and a current ratio of 5.10. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $16.92 and a one year high of $34.34.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $166.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.31 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The business's revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share 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.