Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Cut to "Sell" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on VECO. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Veeco Instruments in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $53.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Veeco Instruments from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.57.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VECO traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.23. The stock had a trading volume of 342,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 658,649. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 3.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.01. Veeco Instruments has a twelve month low of $23.63 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.02 and a beta of 1.16.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $175.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $176.03 million. Veeco Instruments had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 12.03%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Veeco Instruments will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Veeco Instruments news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.63, for a total value of $81,575.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 82,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,696,608.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 292,848 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $10,299,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 280.7% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 38,949 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 28,719 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veeco Instruments during the 1st quarter worth about $713,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Veeco Instruments by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 598,014 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $27,933,000 after purchasing an additional 31,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,131,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $250,800,000 after buying an additional 391,346 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.46% of the company's stock.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

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.