StockNews.com Downgrades Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) to Sell

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on VECO. Citigroup downgraded Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Northland Securities reduced their price objective 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. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO opened at $32.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -71.47 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Veeco Instruments has a 12-month low of $23.63 and a 12-month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.46, for a total value of $121,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 94,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,594,444.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the first quarter valued at about $99,000. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the second quarter worth about $200,000. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at about $210,000. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

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.