Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.43.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VECO shares. Barclays reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $27.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ VECO opened at $19.20 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $19.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.27. Veeco Instruments has a 12-month low of $16.92 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. The company had revenue of $167.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,373,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,477,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $200,391,000 after purchasing an additional 110,825 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 493,039 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,213,000 after purchasing an additional 64,824 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 191.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 29,137 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $820,000 after purchasing an additional 19,140 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.