Intrust Bank NA Purchases 1,504 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Intrust Bank NA increased its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,717 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,504 shares during the period. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VECO. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 8,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 3,304 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 29,810 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $925,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 48.4% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 80,097 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after buying an additional 26,122 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 33,812 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after buying an additional 3,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,966 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 2,459 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $854,295.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,241,712.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $34.59 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.12 and a 200 day moving average of $31.51. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.70 and a fifty-two week high of $37.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.09. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.10% and a negative net margin of 4.56%. The company had revenue of $173.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. Analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VECO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Veeco Instruments from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.57.

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.