Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Raises Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 10,288.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,817 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,684 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 396.2% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,295 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at $204,000. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at $220,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 9,391 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 11,010 shares of Veeco Instruments 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,829,707. This trade represents a 10.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 1.7%

Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.22. The company had a trading volume of 315,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,749. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.89 and a beta of 1.11. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.92 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.70 and a 200 day moving average of $22.87.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $167.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $166.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 8.29%. Veeco Instruments's quarterly revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veeco Instruments from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.43.

About Veeco Instruments

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.