Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 26,510 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 812,728 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 26,510 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 1.44% of Veeco Instruments worth $25,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,690,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $188,059,000 after purchasing an additional 450,685 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,039,207 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $113,542,000 after buying an additional 41,575 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 24.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,569,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,129,000 after acquiring an additional 310,390 shares in the last quarter. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC now owns 1,329,635 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,376,000 after acquiring an additional 38,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 485,924 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,659,000 after acquiring an additional 3,768 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 4.8 %

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $39.29 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.05 and a 12 month high of $40.30. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $35.34 and its 200 day moving average is $31.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of -60.45 and a beta of 1.18.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $173.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.10% and a negative net margin of 4.56%. Sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were 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 $19,241,712.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were 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 directly owns 545,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,241,712.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total transaction of $170,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

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.