Oppenheimer Has Lowered Expectations for Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Stock Price

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) had its price target dropped by analysts at Oppenheimer from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price points to a potential upside of 39.47% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Northland Securities cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $28.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 2.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.08 and a 200 day moving average of $37.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.24 and a beta of 1.17. Veeco Instruments has a 1 year low of $26.23 and a 1 year high of $49.25.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $175.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total transaction of $81,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 82,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC lifted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 1.9% during the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 21,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 14.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,864 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 18,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $657,000 after buying an additional 559 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.