Herald Investment Management Ltd Acquires 20,000 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Herald Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 16.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 140,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Veeco Instruments comprises 1.1% of Herald Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Herald Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $6,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 0.5% in the second quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $657,000 after buying an additional 559 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,734,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VECO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Northland Securities reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.57.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,472,523.68. The sale 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 Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $31.25 on Friday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.63 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.59. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of -69.44 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veeco Instruments Company 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.