Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC Trims Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC decreased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 42.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 419,207 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 311,928 shares during the quarter. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC owned approximately 0.74% of Veeco Instruments worth $11,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $200,391,000 after acquiring an additional 110,825 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,485,000 after purchasing an additional 883,815 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after buying an additional 371,221 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,308,000 after buying an additional 30,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,314,000 after buying an additional 22,850 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $21.30 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.05 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.26. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 1.24.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. Analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on VECO. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

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.