Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Sells 176,789 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 47.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 194,128 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 176,789 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $5,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter worth $50,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position 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 period. Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth $263,000. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $20.91 on Friday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.05 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $23.52 and its 200 day moving average is $27.21. The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.24.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

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.