UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Has $4.66 Million Stock Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC decreased its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 71.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 140,717 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 352,175 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $4,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after purchasing an additional 793,429 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $73,428,000 after purchasing an additional 371,221 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 37.3% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,953,000 after purchasing an additional 319,451 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 249.0% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,271,000 after buying an additional 307,348 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 165.0% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 370,917 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $12,288,000 after buying an additional 230,971 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $71,675.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $28.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a one year low of $25.52 and a one year high of $49.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14 and a beta of 1.15.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

About Veeco Instruments

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.