GAMMA Investing LLC Sells 1,636 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

GAMMA Investing LLC lowered its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 45.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,990 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,636 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $53,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after purchasing an additional 883,815 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after acquiring an additional 793,429 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $73,428,000 after acquiring an additional 371,221 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 37.3% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,953,000 after acquiring an additional 319,451 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 249.0% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,271,000 after acquiring an additional 307,348 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO opened at $26.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36 and a beta of 1.15. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.52 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.72 and its 200-day moving average is $33.02.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The company 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,076,173.46. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VECO. Citigroup upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.71.

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.