Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Lifted to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $30.57 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -67.93 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $23.63 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.07.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The firm 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 business earned $0.21 EPS. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 793,429 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after acquiring an additional 391,346 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,857,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 132.1% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 195,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,858,000 after purchasing an additional 111,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,219,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.