Short Interest in Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Decreases By 15.9%

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,820,000 shares, a drop of 15.9% from the September 30th total of 5,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 816,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares in the company, valued at $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after buying an additional 391,346 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,117,000 after purchasing an additional 793,429 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.6% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,933,000 after purchasing an additional 31,482 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 384,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,516,000 after purchasing an additional 16,557 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 325,698 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $15,213,000 after buying an additional 32,850 shares during the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of VECO traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $29.24. 108,473 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 654,935. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $23.63 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.55 and its 200-day moving average is $37.86. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -64.98 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). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The company had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VECO shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com cut Veeco Instruments from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lowered Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.57.

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.