Wasatch Advisors LP Grows Stock Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,792,850 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 152,201 shares during the quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP owned 4.92% of Veeco Instruments worth $74,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,676,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth $14,373,000. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $11,598,000 after purchasing an additional 318,345 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 778,280 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $20,858,000 after purchasing an additional 147,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,106,888 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $29,665,000 after purchasing an additional 137,194 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $32.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.50 on Monday, hitting $17.45. 148,845 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 726,519. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.07 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.59. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.92 and a 1 year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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.