Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Invests $621,000 in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 30,495 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $621,000. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors owned about 0.05% of Veeco Instruments at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.9% in 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 327,887 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $8,787,000 after purchasing an additional 16,001 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.6% in the fourth 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. Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth about $415,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter worth about $311,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VECO shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO traded up $0.01 on Monday, hitting $19.72. 475,297 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 744,170. The company has a current ratio of 4.44, a quick ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $19.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 1.11. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.92 and a 52 week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $167.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 8.29% and a net margin of 8.99%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $225,705.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,254 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,829,707. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company's stock.

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.