Herald Investment Management Ltd Purchases 20,000 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Herald Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Veeco Instruments makes up approximately 1.1% of Herald Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Herald Investment Management Ltd owned approximately 0.25% of Veeco Instruments worth $6,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter valued at $99,000. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $31.25 on Friday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.63 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.44 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.86 and a 200 day moving average of $38.59.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,472,523.68. The transaction 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Northland Securities cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four equities research 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.57.

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.