Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 4,016 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its position in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 4,016 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Veeco Instruments were worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VECO. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1,311.0% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,543 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at about $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Veeco Instruments news, Director Dennis Thomas St sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.72, for a total value of $150,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,956,196.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Adrian Devasahayam sold 5,000 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.10, for a total value of $170,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,294,179.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 63,201 shares of company stock worth $2,321,375 over the last 90 days. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped 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. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.71.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $41.53 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.13. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.77 and a 12 month high of $41.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a current ratio of 3.05.

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.