Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 706 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 706 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.08% of Veeco Instruments worth $1,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VECO. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,308,000 after acquiring an additional 30,008 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,314,000 after purchasing an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,676,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,106,888 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,665,000 after purchasing an additional 137,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 778,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,858,000 after buying an additional 147,269 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $20.08 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.57 and a 52 week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. Sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

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.