Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

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

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer lowered 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 downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their price objective on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ VECO opened at $28.12 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.43. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments has a 52-week low of $27.06 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.54.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were 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 directly owns 85,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 237.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 733.3% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Veeco Instruments by 14.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. 98.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.