Hosking Partners LLP Has $2.16 Million Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Hosking Partners LLP cut its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 12,776 shares during the quarter. Hosking Partners LLP owned approximately 0.14% of Veeco Instruments worth $2,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 3,213.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VECO has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $21.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.89 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.66 and a beta of 1.13.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.