Fisher Asset Management LLC Purchases 137,194 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,106,888 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 137,194 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $29,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VECO. 272 Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3,213.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 4,691 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on VECO. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $22.24 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average is $25.82 and its 200 day moving average is $28.99. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.59 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. Research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $1,780,455.42. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.40% 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.