Montag A & Associates Inc. Cuts Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Montag A & Associates Inc. decreased its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,402 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $38,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after acquiring an additional 883,815 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after purchasing an additional 371,221 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,308,000 after purchasing an additional 30,008 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,314,000 after buying an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,953,000 after buying an additional 319,451 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $24.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $26.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.66. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.00 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50 and a beta of 1.13.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total value of $69,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,076,173.46. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.