Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Rating Increased to Hold at 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.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on VECO. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 0.4 %

VECO stock opened at $27.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. Veeco Instruments has a 12 month low of $25.52 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.50 and its 200 day moving average is $36.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.59 and a beta of 1.15.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The company had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. 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.