Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Northland Securities cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $29.16 on Wednesday. Veeco Instruments has a 12 month low of $23.63 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -64.80 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 2.32.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The firm had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during the second quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 3.1% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $657,000 after buying an additional 559 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 2.2% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,734,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

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.