Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup cut Veeco Instruments from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark restated a buy rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Northland Securities decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $32.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -72.93 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 2.32. Veeco Instruments has a 12 month low of $23.63 and a 12 month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The business had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,472,523.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 93.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,993 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 9,190 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 21.7% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 31,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,489,000 after acquiring an additional 5,676 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,117,000 after acquiring an additional 793,429 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 118,733 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,546,000 after acquiring an additional 1,984 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 59,986 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,802,000 after acquiring an additional 14,991 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.