Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Short Interest Update

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,580,000 shares, a decrease of 15.7% from the February 28th total of 5,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 741,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.2 days. Currently, 8.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,780,455.42. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VECO. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,676,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Veeco Instruments in the 4th quarter worth $14,373,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,748,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,651,000 after purchasing an additional 531,821 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 278.2% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC now owns 432,769 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,598,000 after purchasing an additional 318,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 125.2% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 349,785 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,374,000 after purchasing an additional 194,495 shares during the period. 98.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VECO shares. Benchmark reduced 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. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Veeco Instruments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

Veeco Instruments Price Performance

Shares of VECO stock opened at $20.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53 and a beta of 1.12. Veeco Instruments has a 12 month low of $19.57 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.92.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.14). Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 10.28% and a return on equity of 9.38%. Research analysts expect 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.