Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Acquired by Creative Planning

Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 47.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,008 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth $99,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter worth $200,000. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth $203,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.57.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,472,523.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $28.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $24.33 and a one year high of $49.25. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42 and a beta of 1.16.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The company had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.