Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Makes New Investment in Veeco Instruments Inc. $VECO

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS bought a new position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 23,400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,214,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter worth $728,127,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at about $156,557,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at about $134,434,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at about $65,836,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth about $57,727,000. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO William Miller sold 200,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.18, for a total transaction of $10,836,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 169,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,187,302.60. This trade represents a 54.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. Northland Securities raised Veeco Instruments from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Citigroup cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $63.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $39.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 3.93 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The company has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a PE ratio of 99.00 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.92. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.00 and a fifty-two week high of $86.63.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The semiconductor company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.07). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.85% and a net margin of 3.62%. The company had revenue of $209.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $213.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments designs and manufactures process equipment used to make semiconductors and other advanced materials. Its systems support thin-film deposition, etching, lithography and related manufacturing processes.

The company’s product portfolio includes metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), ion beam and laser-processing systems. These tools serve applications in compound semiconductors, advanced packaging, data storage and scientific research.

Veeco serves customers around the world through its sales and service operations.