Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives $45.57 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.57.

VECO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VECO opened at $32.17 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.31. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -71.49 and a beta of 1.17. 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 data on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.01). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 12.03% and a net margin of 11.83%. The firm 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 business posted $0.21 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.04, for a total transaction of $72,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,472,523.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 93.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,993 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 9,190 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 21.7% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 31,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after acquiring an additional 5,676 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,117,000 after buying an additional 793,429 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 1.7% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 118,733 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,546,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 33.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 59,986 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,802,000 after purchasing an additional 14,991 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is 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.