Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO John P. Kiernan Sells 2,500 Shares

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,472,523.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO stock opened at $31.25 on Friday. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.63 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of -69.44 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $37.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.57.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The business had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 93.7% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,993 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $887,000 after buying an additional 9,190 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 31,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after acquiring an additional 5,676 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,117,000 after acquiring an additional 793,429 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1.7% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 118,733 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 33.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 59,986 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,802,000 after purchasing an additional 14,991 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Northland Securities reduced 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 note on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.57.

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.