Brokerages Set Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) PT at $42.14

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.14.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VECO shares. Benchmark reduced 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. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped 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.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO opened at $27.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.56. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $49.25. 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 (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 80,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. The trade was a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. 272 Capital LP bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Synovus Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at $633,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,314,000 after acquiring an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth $1,965,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 87,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,891,000 after purchasing an additional 2,431 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.