Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Short Interest Update

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,580,000 shares, a drop of 15.7% from the February 28th total of 5,430,000 shares. Currently, 8.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 741,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VECO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $20.50 on Thursday. 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 52 week low of $19.57 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.53 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.97 and a 200-day moving average of $26.92.

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

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,076,173.46. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. 272 Capital LP acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 4,691 shares during the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at $220,000. 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.