Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

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

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on VECO. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup lowered Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Northland Securities dropped their price target 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. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $28.78 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. Veeco Instruments has a fifty-two week low of $23.63 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. The company has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,696,608.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the 3rd 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. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $99,000. nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 498 shares during the period. 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.