23,400 Shares in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO Purchased by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 23,400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,214,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth $728,127,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at $156,557,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at $134,434,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at about $65,836,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at about $57,727,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $63.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Northland Securities raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 6.5%

VECO stock opened at $39.60 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.93, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.00 and a 1 year high of $86.63. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.92. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a PE ratio of 99.00 and a beta of 1.41.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $209.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $213.33 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.85% and a net margin of 3.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William Miller sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 169,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,187,302.60. This represents a 54.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments designs and manufactures process equipment used to make semiconductors and other advanced materials. Its systems support thin-film deposition, etching, lithography and related manufacturing processes.

The company’s product portfolio includes metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), ion beam and laser-processing systems. These tools serve applications in compound semiconductors, advanced packaging, data storage and scientific research.

Veeco serves customers around the world through its sales and service operations.