Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Acquired by Needham Investment Management LLC

Needham Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 677,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,500 shares during the period. Veeco Instruments accounts for about 1.7% of Needham Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Needham Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.19% of Veeco Instruments worth $22,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VECO. Benchmark dropped their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. This trade represents a 2.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.49 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $28.58. 90,641 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 657,027. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.52 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.91 and a 200-day moving average of $36.44. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53 and a beta of 1.15.

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

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.