Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Downgraded by StockNews.com

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

VECO has been the subject of several other reports. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup cut Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Northland Securities cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $32.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 549,658 shares, compared to its average volume of 662,571. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $34.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.27. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Veeco Instruments has a one year low of $23.63 and a one year high of $49.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -72.16 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.9% in the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 3.1% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,310 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during 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.