First Trust Advisors LP Has $584,000 Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 73.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,791 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 60,128 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at about $204,000. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,589 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth $311,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded up $0.15 on Tuesday, reaching $21.20. 546,902 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 742,156. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 1.13. The company's 50 day moving average is $19.72 and its 200-day moving average is $24.21. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.92 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $166.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. Veeco Instruments's revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, 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 topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.43.

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.