StockNews.com Upgrades Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) to “Hold”

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

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on VECO. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $22.24 on Friday. Veeco Instruments has a twelve month low of $21.59 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.04. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total transaction of $61,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the third quarter worth about $50,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Veeco Instruments by 3,213.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,804 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Veeco Instruments

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.