Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 961 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 576,316 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 961 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 1.02% of Veeco Instruments worth $17,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 4.4% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,090 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 16.9% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,045 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 13.7% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,806 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.7% in the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 16,723 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 159,411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,094,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total transaction of $170,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,294,179.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $854,295.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 545,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,241,712.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,294,179.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,201 shares of company stock valued at $1,926,895 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 1.3 %

VECO stock opened at $34.86 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.70 and a 1-year high of $37.75. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.18.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $173.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a positive return on equity of 11.10%. On average, research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VECO. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.57.

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.