Riverwater Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Riverwater Partners LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,809 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 10,011 shares during the quarter. Veeco Instruments makes up approximately 1.1% of Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $2,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after acquiring an additional 391,346 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted 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 last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,933,000 after buying an additional 31,482 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 384,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,516,000 after buying an additional 16,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 325,698 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $15,213,000 after buying an additional 32,850 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 1.3 %

VECO opened at $29.23 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $32.92 and its 200-day moving average is $37.95. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.63 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 1.16.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. Analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on VECO. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Northland Securities decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.57.

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.