Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Trading 4.6% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO)’s stock price traded up 4.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $29.36 and last traded at $29.31. 82,927 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 651,931 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.14.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.38.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total value of $71,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. This represents a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 39.4% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,602 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 2,433 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 28,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,145,000. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 0.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Shaker Investments LLC OH purchased a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,086,000. Hedge funds and other 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.