Granahan Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Granahan Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 243,669 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 48,095 shares during the period. Granahan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $6,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 311,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,333,000 after buying an additional 2,583 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 284,686 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,786,000 after acquiring an additional 11,483 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 199,156 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,337,000 after acquiring an additional 24,779 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,589 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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 on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $19.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 1.13. 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 12-month low of $16.92 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.34.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The company had revenue of $167.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.