Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO Shares Purchased by Old West Investment Management LLC

Old West Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 129.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 67,632 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,114 shares during the quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $2,058,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 30,646 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 51.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 29,785 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $598,000 after buying an additional 10,122 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 148.0% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 474,415 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,526,000 after acquiring an additional 283,099 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at $618,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.50.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 6.0%

VECO stock opened at $30.69 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $31.16 and its 200 day moving average is $28.29. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.92 and a 12-month high of $35.77. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.98 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 5.36, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.08. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 6.35% and a net margin of 7.23%.The firm had revenue of $165.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CEO William John Miller sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 464,543 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Veeco Instruments

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.