1,107,300 Shares in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Purchased by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,107,300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,676,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $177,000 after buying an additional 4,691 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $20.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.05 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $24.91 and a 200-day moving average of $28.16.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on VECO shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

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.