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 note issued to investors on Tuesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on VECO. Citigroup cut Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Northland Securities cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO opened at $30.48 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.33 and its 200-day moving average is $38.03. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of -67.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Veeco Instruments has a twelve month low of $23.63 and a twelve month high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total value of $72,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 42.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 175,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after buying an additional 52,328 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 23.7% in the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 71,783 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,378,000 after buying an additional 13,764 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter valued at $292,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 47.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 9,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 116.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 1,949 shares in the last quarter. 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.