Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.43.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VECO shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock 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 on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,076,173.46. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 165.0% during the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 370,917 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $12,288,000 after acquiring an additional 230,971 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,314,000 after acquiring an additional 22,850 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 42.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 175,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 52,328 shares during the period. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth $2,109,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 3rd quarter worth $633,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $23.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.29. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $23.00 and a 1-year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. Equities research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

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.