Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Holdings Cut by Chesapeake Capital Corp IL

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL cut its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 41.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,064 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 4,964 shares during the quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 95.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 32,732 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 16,012 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 11.0% during the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,099 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 4.0% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 373,643 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,379,000 after purchasing an additional 14,370 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $327,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VECO. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. This represents a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $26.43 on Monday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.23 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.21. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current 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.