Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Stake Raised by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 249.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 307,348 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.76% of Veeco Instruments worth $14,271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at about $99,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 4.5 %

Shares of VECO traded up $1.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $30.44. The company had a trading volume of 49,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 656,351. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.11 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The company's 50 day moving average price is $31.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.56.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VECO. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Northland Securities lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.57.

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.