Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.43.

Several research firms recently commented on VECO. StockNews.com raised shares of Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $38.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.51, for a total value of $61,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 72,642 shares in the company, valued at $1,780,455.42. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veeco Instruments

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VECO. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Veeco Instruments by 257.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. 272 Capital LP purchased a new stake in Veeco Instruments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,088 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 721.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 4,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

Veeco Instruments stock opened at $20.38 on Friday. Veeco Instruments has a 1-year low of $19.96 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The company’s 50-day moving average is $23.38 and its 200 day moving average is $27.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 2.69.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 10.28%. Research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 0.76 EPS for the current 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.