Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

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

Several other brokerages have also commented on VECO. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of VECO stock opened at $27.68 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.73 and a 200-day moving average of $36.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50 and a beta of 1.15. Veeco Instruments has a 52-week low of $25.52 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.54.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 earnings per share 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 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,297,671.14. The trade was a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. 272 Capital LP acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

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.