Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires New Stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 59,312 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $1,965,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.10% of Veeco Instruments as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,219,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 230,971 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,710,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 75,551 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $3,529,000 after purchasing an additional 27,476 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $71,675.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO stock traded down $0.33 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.59. 540,822 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 654,539. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.44 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm's 50-day moving average is $28.66 and its 200 day moving average is $35.27.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.14.

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.