Vanguard Group Inc. Has $233.20 Million Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,663,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 62,016 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Veeco Instruments worth $233,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,675,000. Old West Investment Management LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC now owns 67,632 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,058,000 after purchasing an additional 38,114 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at $679,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 76,895 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after acquiring an additional 43,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TradeLink Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at approximately $296,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $800,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 464,543 shares in the company, valued at $14,865,376. This represents a 5.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $30.56 on Monday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.92 and a 12-month high of $35.77. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.80 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.35. The company has a current ratio of 4.75, a quick ratio of 3.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on VECO. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.17.

Veeco Instruments Profile

Veeco Instruments Inc (NASDAQ: VECO) is a leading supplier of process equipment for the semiconductor, data storage, wireless communications, power electronics and advanced packaging industries. The company designs, manufactures and services precision tools used to grow, deposit and etch thin films on substrates, enabling the fabrication of chips, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and high-density storage devices. Veeco’s platforms are deployed across fabrication facilities worldwide, where they support key processes in materials science and device manufacturing.

Veeco’s product portfolio spans molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), ion beam etch and deposition, and high-precision wet and dry etch systems.