Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Buys 919 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 257.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VECO. 272 Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691 shares during the period. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $210,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VECO. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ VECO opened at $21.40 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.24. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.05 and a 1 year high of $49.25.

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