Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 1,409,145 shares were traded 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VECO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup cut shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 2.7 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $34.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.24. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -73.00 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Grotto Capital LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at about $11,476,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,739,727 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $209,134,000 after buying an additional 49,606 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $713,000. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $580,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 315,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,089,000 after acquiring an additional 22,339 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.