Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Acquired by Creative Planning

Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 93.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,993 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,190 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 21.7% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 31,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 5,676 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 118,733 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,546,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 33.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 59,986 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,802,000 after acquiring an additional 14,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.9% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 124,628 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,821,000 after acquiring an additional 9,140 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

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 dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ VECO opened at $33.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $23.63 and a one year high of $49.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a PE ratio of 23.64 and a beta of 1.16.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Northland Securities reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.57.

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.