The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $73.43 Million Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 20.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 371,221 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $73,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after purchasing an additional 391,346 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 37.3% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,953,000 after acquiring an additional 319,451 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 969,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $32,126,000 after acquiring an additional 185,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 751,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $24,880,000 after acquiring an additional 216,616 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $71,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850 in the last three months. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 1.8 %

VECO stock opened at $27.63 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.52 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.68. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.47 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VECO. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments 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.