Brokerages Set Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Target Price at $42.14

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.14.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark cut their target price on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,297,671.14. The trade was a 3.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 130.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. 272 Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Veeco Instruments by 116.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO opened at $27.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.27. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $25.52 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

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.