Quest Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Quest Partners LLC lowered its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 74.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,069 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 17,779 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the first 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 last quarter. Blue Grotto Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth about $11,476,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the second quarter worth about $8,857,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,924,000 after buying an additional 135,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 132.1% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 195,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,858,000 after buying an additional 111,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,472,523.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VECO. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO stock opened at $31.25 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $37.86 and a 200-day moving average of $38.59. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.63 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.44 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The firm had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.