US Bancorp DE Acquires 498 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the first quarter valued at $217,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 130.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 48,075 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,691,000 after acquiring an additional 27,234 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,592 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 1,755 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 47.8% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 21,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $755,000 after acquiring an additional 6,940 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $250,800,000 after acquiring an additional 391,346 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on VECO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced 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. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $26.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.18. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.23 and a 52-week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly 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. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The business had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.