Hosking Partners LLP Sells 12,776 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Hosking Partners LLP cut its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 80,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 12,776 shares during the period. Hosking Partners LLP’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $2,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 165.0% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 370,917 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,288,000 after buying an additional 230,971 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,314,000 after acquiring an additional 22,850 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 42.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 175,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after purchasing an additional 52,328 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth $2,109,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at $633,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price 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. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 7.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $21.90 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.20. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.89 and a 1 year high of $49.25. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on 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 trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

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.