New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Stock Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 433,440 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,683 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $11,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 883,815 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 37.3% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 165.0% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 370,917 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $12,288,000 after purchasing an additional 230,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 751,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $24,880,000 after purchasing an additional 216,616 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $24.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $26.21 and a 200-day moving average of $29.38. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.00 and a 52-week high of $49.25.

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

Veeco Instruments Company 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.