Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.71.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Benchmark decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,297,671.14. The trade was a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 50.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after purchasing an additional 883,815 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after buying an additional 371,221 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,308,000 after acquiring an additional 30,008 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,117,000 after acquiring an additional 793,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,314,000 after acquiring an additional 22,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ VECO opened at $28.72 on Tuesday. Veeco Instruments has a 12 month low of $25.52 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 21.27 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.