9,830 Shares in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Acquired by Inceptionr LLC

Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,830 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. 272 Capital LP purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 721.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 4,691 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO stock opened at $21.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $25.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.40. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.50 and a 1 year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. Analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.