Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO Shares Purchased by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 152.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 573,764 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 346,340 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $17,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 29.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 134,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 30,646 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 51.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 29,785 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 10,122 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 148.0% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 474,415 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,526,000 after purchasing an additional 283,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter valued at $618,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research raised Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.17.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of VECO opened at $32.47 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.92 and a 12 month high of $35.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 4.75 and a quick ratio of 3.20. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of 55.03 and a beta of 1.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 464,543 shares in the company, valued at $14,865,376. This represents a 5.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

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.