Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,489 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 4,898 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.05% of Veeco Instruments worth $790,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth $415,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 433,440 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,616,000 after purchasing an additional 2,683 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 327,887 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,787,000 after purchasing an additional 16,001 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 778,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,858,000 after purchasing an additional 147,269 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 163,066 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,370,000 after purchasing an additional 6,125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $21.23 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12 and a beta of 1.13. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.85 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.69 and a 200-day moving average of $28.87.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. As a group, analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on VECO. Benchmark reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

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.