Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

A number of other brokerages have also commented on VECO. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup cut Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $27.31 on Monday. 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 52 week low of $27.04 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $30.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.24. The company has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23 and a beta of 1.17.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.92%. The business had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.57 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,472,523.68. This trade represents a 2.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 7,500 shares of company stock valued at $225,850 over the last 90 days. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.9% during the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew 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 last quarter. Pitcairn Co. increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.1% during the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.