Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.43.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VECO. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ VECO opened at $20.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 3.98. Veeco Instruments has a fifty-two week low of $20.05 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value 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. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the fourth quarter worth $29,676,000. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after acquiring an additional 883,815 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,373,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,748,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,651,000 after purchasing an additional 531,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after purchasing an additional 371,221 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

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.