Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Shares Sold by Chesapeake Capital Corp IL

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL lowered its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 51.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,028 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 12,727 shares during the quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $250,800,000 after purchasing an additional 391,346 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,645,701 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $82,096,000 after acquiring an additional 53,715 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,326,385 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $72,189,000 after purchasing an additional 87,605 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $52,924,000 after purchasing an additional 135,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,933,000 after purchasing an additional 31,482 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.46, for a total transaction of $121,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 94,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,594,444.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $29.47 on Tuesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.63 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.76. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -65.49 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VECO. Northland Securities decreased their price target 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. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.