Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup downgraded Veeco Instruments from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $32.47 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.16 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $23.63 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.27.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The company had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $250,800,000 after purchasing an additional 391,346 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,645,701 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $82,096,000 after acquiring an additional 53,715 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,705,572 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $52,924,000 after acquiring an additional 135,687 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after acquiring an additional 793,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,933,000 after purchasing an additional 31,482 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Company 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.