John P. Kiernan Sells 2,500 Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded down $0.94 on Tuesday, hitting $23.68. 1,182,653 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 664,798. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.54 and a beta of 1.13. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.24 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VECO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 59.5% during the 4th quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 116,182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,115,000 after acquiring an additional 43,340 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 165.8% in the 4th quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 17,812 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 11,110 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $200,391,000 after acquiring an additional 110,825 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at $324,000. Finally, Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Hedge funds and other 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.