Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Upgraded by Citigroup to “Buy” Rating

Citigroup upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday, Marketbeat reports. Citigroup currently has $33.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on VECO. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.71.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 5.7 %

VECO stock opened at $28.72 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 21.27 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.89 and a 200-day moving average of $33.67. 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 has a one year low of $25.52 and a one year high of $49.25.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 80,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,297,671.14. This trade represents a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after buying an additional 883,815 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 371,221 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,091,995 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,308,000 after acquiring an additional 30,008 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd 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 lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,314,000 after purchasing an additional 22,850 shares during the period. 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.