Oppenheimer Lowers Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Price Target to $40.00

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price target dropped by research analysts at Oppenheimer from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target suggests a potential upside of 37.74% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Northland Securities cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO traded down $1.06 on Thursday, hitting $29.04. 594,218 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 659,667. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.51. Veeco Instruments has a one year low of $26.23 and a one year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.