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

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $30.00 to $25.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on VECO. Citigroup upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Benchmark cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Trading Up 2.6 %

VECO opened at $24.27 on Thursday. 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 $23.00 and a one year high of $49.25. The company has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.08.

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

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total value of $69,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,076,173.46. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. 272 Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during 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. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.