Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,343 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 10,330 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.15% of Veeco Instruments worth $2,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 50.3% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,485,000 after purchasing an additional 883,815 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after acquiring an additional 371,221 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 37.3% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,953,000 after acquiring an additional 319,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 249.0% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,271,000 after acquiring an additional 307,348 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of VECO stock opened at $27.83 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $28.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.81. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.52 and a twelve month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. Veeco Instruments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

About Veeco Instruments

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.