Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 1,409,145 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 112% from the previous session’s volume of 665,737 shares.The stock last traded at $33.39 and had previously closed at $32.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 2.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $34.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.24. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.00 and a beta of 1.16.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). The company 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,472,523.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VECO. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth $99,000. nVerses Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the second quarter valued at about $200,000. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the first quarter valued at about $203,000. 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.