Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives $45.57 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.57.

Several research firms have recently commented on VECO. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced 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.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

VECO opened at $29.26 on Thursday. Veeco Instruments has a 52-week low of $23.63 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -65.02 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. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.85.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The business had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,739,727 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $209,134,000 after acquiring an additional 49,606 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the first quarter worth $713,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 7.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 315,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,089,000 after buying an additional 22,339 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the first quarter worth $231,000. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the first quarter worth $877,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Veeco Instruments

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.