Amalgamated Bank Trims Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Amalgamated Bank lowered its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,644 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 459 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $551,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 3.2 %

VECO stock opened at $26.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.17. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.19. 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 data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The business had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities cut 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. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Benchmark cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.14.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

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.