Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $22.24 on Friday. Veeco Instruments has a 12 month low of $21.59 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. Research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. This represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Creative Planning increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 47.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 9,008 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 42.6% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 175,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 52,328 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 3,213.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 249.0% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,271,000 after acquiring an additional 307,348 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.