Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives $39.71 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.71.

VECO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark reduced their target price 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. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price 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. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Veeco Instruments Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of Veeco Instruments stock opened at $26.13 on Tuesday. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $25.52 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.02.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,076,173.46. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in 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 last quarter. 272 Capital LP acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 116.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

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.