Barclays Lowers Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Price Target to $25.00

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at Barclays from $30.00 to $25.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential upside of 1.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VECO opened at $24.67 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.60 and a 200 day moving average of $29.98. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.27 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Veeco Instruments has a 12-month low of $23.00 and a 12-month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Creative Planning increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 47.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 9,008 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the third quarter worth $292,000. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 23.7% in the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 71,783 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,378,000 after purchasing an additional 13,764 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 42.6% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 175,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after buying an additional 52,328 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 752 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.