Point72 DIFC Ltd Makes New Investment in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 29,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $984,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after purchasing an additional 883,815 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $73,428,000 after acquiring an additional 371,221 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,953,000 after acquiring an additional 319,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 249.0% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,271,000 after acquiring an additional 307,348 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $27.68 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.52 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The company has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50 and a beta of 1.15.

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