Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.14.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th.

Insider Activity

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 7,500 shares of company stock worth $225,850 over the last 90 days. 2.40% of the stock is currently 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. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after buying an additional 883,815 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after acquiring an additional 371,221 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,308,000 after acquiring an additional 30,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after acquiring an additional 793,429 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of VECO opened at $27.40 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments has a 12-month low of $25.52 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.85.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $184.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

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.