Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC reduced its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 47.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 194,128 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 176,789 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned approximately 0.34% of Veeco Instruments worth $5,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $200,391,000 after purchasing an additional 110,825 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,485,000 after buying an additional 883,815 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $73,428,000 after buying an additional 371,221 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,308,000 after buying an additional 30,008 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $44,314,000 after acquiring an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VECO shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $20.91 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.24. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.05 and a 52-week high of $49.25.

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

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.