Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Lowers Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Key Points

• Westfield Capital Management Co. LP has reduced its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. by 33.0%, now owning 1,059,504 shares valued at approximately $21.3 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Versant Capital Management Inc. and KBC Group NV, have significantly increased their holdings in Veeco Instruments during the same period.
• Wall Street analysts have decreased their price targets for Veeco Instruments, with Goldman Sachs lowering the target from $27 to $20 and Barclays from $22 to $21, maintaining a mixed outlook on the stock.

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP reduced its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 33.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,059,504 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 520,741 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned about 1.83% of Veeco Instruments worth $21,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 342.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,807 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 6,817 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,747 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 6,145 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,373,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 4.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 341,069 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $6,849,000 after buying an additional 13,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,609 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $847,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VECO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $225,705.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 89,254 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,829,707. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.67 on Friday, reaching $23.61. 1,355,508 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 739,005. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 4.44 and a quick ratio of 3.02. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.92 and a 1-year high of $38.88. The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $20.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.16.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.14. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 8.65%. The business had revenue of $166.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $151.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current 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.