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

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

VECO has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ VECO opened at $27.97 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.38. Veeco Instruments has a 52 week low of $27.06 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $184.80 million during 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 was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,297,671.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 11.4% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 292,848 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,299,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 280.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 38,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 28,719 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 5.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,933,000 after purchasing an additional 31,482 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $250,800,000 after purchasing an additional 391,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 130.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 48,075 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 27,234 shares in the last quarter. 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.