Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on VECO. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $22.24 on Friday. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $21.59 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $25.82 and its 200-day moving average is $29.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.63, for a total transaction of $69,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,076,173.46. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% during 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 in the last quarter. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the third quarter worth $50,000. KBC Group NV increased its position 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 in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3,213.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 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.