Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.71.

Several analysts recently weighed in on VECO shares. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,076,173.46. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during 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 last quarter. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 116.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $25.38 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.28 and a 200-day moving average of $31.14. Veeco Instruments has a 12 month low of $23.24 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80 and a beta of 1.15.

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

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.