Needham Investment Management LLC Has $19.59 Million Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Needham Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 731,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 53,500 shares during the quarter. Veeco Instruments makes up 1.5% of Needham Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Needham Investment Management LLC owned about 1.29% of Veeco Instruments worth $19,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at $220,000. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at $263,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,009 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 3,548 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. Benchmark cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.55. The company had a trading volume of 483,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,337. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $16.92 and a one year high of $49.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57 and a beta of 1.13. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $19.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.01.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. The business had revenue of $167.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments's revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.