Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 35.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 667,383 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 174,344 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 1.15% of Veeco Instruments worth $13,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $14,373,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,748,172 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $73,651,000 after buying an additional 531,821 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 278.2% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 432,769 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $11,598,000 after buying an additional 318,345 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 125.2% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 349,785 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $9,374,000 after buying an additional 194,495 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3,668.8% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 199,067 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,335,000 after buying an additional 193,785 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total transaction of $225,705.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 89,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,829,707. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of VECO stock traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.82. 340,924 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 602,847. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.92 and a 12 month high of $41.64. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 4.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company's 50-day moving average price is $20.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.53.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 8.29%. The firm had revenue of $167.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $166.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veeco Instruments Company 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.