New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $359,000 Position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Key Points

• The New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. by 95.9%, trimming its holdings to 17,856 shares valued at $359,000.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter, with Vanguard Group owning over 7.4 million shares, representing a value of $200.4 million.
• Veeco Instruments reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.37 for the recent quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and reflecting a decline in revenue of 4.1% year-over-year.

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 95.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,856 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 415,584 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund's holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $200,391,000 after purchasing an additional 110,825 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,792,850 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $74,848,000 after buying an additional 152,201 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,748,172 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $73,651,000 after acquiring an additional 531,821 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,242,750 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $60,107,000 after acquiring an additional 78,884 shares during the period. Finally, Needham Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 731,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $19,591,000 after acquiring an additional 53,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VECO. Barclays cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.43.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $20.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46 and a beta of 1.10. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.92 and a twelve month high of $41.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.49. The company has a quick ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 4.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 8.29%. The business had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $166.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.50, for a total value of $225,705.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 89,254 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,829,707. The trade was a 10.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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