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

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) by 86.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,838 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 51,526 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.20% of Veeco Instruments worth $2,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VECO. 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 during the period. Sciencast Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at $204,000. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at $220,000. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at $263,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 54.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,009 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 3,548 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 1.0%

VECO stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.40. 505,409 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 750,306. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.92 and a 1 year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The company had revenue of $167.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.00 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments's revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of 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. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.43.

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.