Brokerages Set Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Price Target at $40.71

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.71.

VECO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, Director Dennis Thomas St sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.72, for a total transaction of $150,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,956,196.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Dennis Thomas St sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.72, for a total value of $150,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,956,196.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.39, for a total value of $108,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 2,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,026.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $1,405,055. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 1,311.0% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at about $99,000. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC bought a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 1st quarter valued at about $203,000. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veeco Instruments Stock Up 4.0 %

Shares of VECO opened at $46.35 on Friday. Veeco Instruments has a 52 week low of $23.63 and a 52 week high of $48.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -103.00 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a current ratio of 3.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.21 and a 200-day moving average of $35.66.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $174.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.00 million. Veeco Instruments had a positive return on equity of 11.97% and a negative net margin of 2.51%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veeco Instruments will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.