Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO)

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $55.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 53.42% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $35.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of -79.66 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 3.05 and a quick ratio of 2.02. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $23.63 and a 1-year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.46, for a total transaction of $121,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 94,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,594,444.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.46, for a total transaction of $121,150.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 94,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,594,444.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dennis Thomas St sold 4,000 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,956,196.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,000 shares of company stock worth $380,505. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 237.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Veeco Instruments during the first quarter valued at approximately $99,000. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 733.3% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Institutional investors 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.