Swiss National Bank Boosts Holdings in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Swiss National Bank grew its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO – Get Rating) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,221 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.24% of Veeco Instruments worth $2,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,364,379 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,858,000 after buying an additional 988,143 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 718,458 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 10.2% during the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,209,465 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,868,000 after acquiring an additional 298,185 shares in the last quarter. River & Mercantile Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,164,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,027,962 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $147,072,000 after purchasing an additional 224,780 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VECO. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on Veeco Instruments in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.60.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $22.51 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $20.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.59 and a beta of 1.27. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.11 and a fifty-two week high of $23.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.41.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

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Veeco Instruments, Inc engages in the development, manufacture, sale and support of semiconductor process equipment. Its technologies consists of metal organic chemical vapor deposition, advanced packaging lithography, wet etch and clean, laser annealing, ion beam, molecular beam epitaxy, wafer inspection, and atomic layer deposition systems.