Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 2,583 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 311,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 2,583 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $10,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 280.7% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 38,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,370,000 after buying an additional 28,719 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,933,000 after buying an additional 31,482 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after buying an additional 391,346 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 48,075 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 27,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,219,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $26.43 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $26.23 and a one year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. Veeco Instruments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850 in the last 90 days. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VECO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Company 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.