Granahan Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Granahan Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 243,669 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 48,095 shares during the quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC owned 0.43% of Veeco Instruments worth $6,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 311,886 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $10,333,000 after buying an additional 2,583 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 284,686 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $7,786,000 after acquiring an additional 11,483 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 199,156 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $5,337,000 after purchasing an additional 24,779 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 21.0% in the 4th 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, Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,886 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $19.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.34. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.92 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The business had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The business's revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Barclays reduced 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark lowered 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 note on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.43.

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.

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