Inceptionr LLC Buys Shares of 9,830 Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,830 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 165.0% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 370,917 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $12,288,000 after acquiring an additional 230,971 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the third 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 during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth about $2,109,000. Synovus Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth about $633,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 163,066 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,370,000 after acquiring an additional 6,125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of VECO stock opened at $21.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The company has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.40. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.50 and a 1-year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on VECO. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Benchmark decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

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.