Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 1,034 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,752 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing 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 reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,281,459 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $212,668,000 after purchasing an additional 42,742 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 7.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,690,121 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $188,059,000 after purchasing an additional 450,685 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 22.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,364,379 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,858,000 after purchasing an additional 988,143 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 28.7% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. now owns 3,221,333 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,588,000 after purchasing an additional 718,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,035,387 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $43,007,000 after purchasing an additional 47,002 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of VECO stock opened at $32.58 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $35.18 and a 200-day moving average of $31.11. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.70 and a 12-month high of $37.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.12 and a beta of 1.20.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Veeco Instruments had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a positive return on equity of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $173.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,241,712.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO William John Miller sold 24,201 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 545,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,241,712.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.40% of the stock is owned by 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.