Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 189,615 Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 189,615 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,857,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. owned 0.33% of Veeco Instruments at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VECO. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 80,097 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after buying an additional 26,122 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 8,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 3,304 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth $332,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 114,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,482,000 after purchasing an additional 51,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 449,478 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,947,000 after purchasing an additional 13,963 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $32.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.52 and a 200 day moving average of $38.87. The firm has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of -71.56 and a beta of 1.22. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $23.63 and a one year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total value of $108,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,026.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VECO shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.