Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.71.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VECO. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $28.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.27 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.67. Veeco Instruments has a fifty-two week low of $25.52 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, 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 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 116.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.