Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Holdings Boosted by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,752 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Point72 Middle East FZE bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 470.9% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total value of $854,295.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at $19,241,712.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Veeco Instruments news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total transaction of $170,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $854,295.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares in the company, valued at $19,241,712.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ VECO opened at $32.58 on Friday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.70 and a 12 month high of $37.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of -50.12 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.11.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The semiconductor company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $173.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a positive return on equity of 11.10%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VECO shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Benchmark lifted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Three 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.com, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.57.

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.